


Hello Halcyon Days

by Steangine



Category: Bleach
Genre: Grimmjow and Ichigo centric, M/M, Mpreg, mention of other characters, one shot series, post quincy war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2018-12-25 18:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 35,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12042105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steangine/pseuds/Steangine
Summary: Grimmjow went to human world with a child. His and Ichigo's child.The road to a peaceful life sometimes isn't peaceful at all.[Mpreg, not graphic depictions. Grimmjow bottoms]





	1. Four years since then

**Author's Note:**

> The new character is Grimmjow and Ichigo's child and Grimmjow's the one who gave birth. There'll be no graphic depictions of sex or birth. At first this had to be a one shot, but then I wanted to write something more and it ended up being a series of one shots.  
> I'll publish one chapter every weekend.

Sometimes Ichigo lost track of time.

He was 21, in the middle of his studies to become a doctor and kept fulfilling his duties as a substitute shinigami. When he wasn’t in Karakura, the safety of his town was in the hands of Kurumadani; not that reassuring, but since Urahara and his father were there too, Ichigo didn’t worry much.

Tokyo was way bigger than Karakura and Ichigo counted at least 4 shinigami only during his first month there in the two neighborhoods he used to spend is time in. They weren’t bad; since he became a student at the college, the times he had to fight hollows in Tokyo in four years could be easily counted on the fingers of his hands.

But Ichigo kept losing track of time. One day, Orihime said out of the blue that it had been 5 years since their first meeting with Rukia. Ichigo thought those years dense of events flew away. It was strange spending normal days swinging among school, part time job and parties without another Aizen or Yhwach trying to turn the world upside down.

A part of him was overjoyed, a minuscule fraction was bored. And when that minuscule part emerged, always wondered how Grimmjow and Neliel were doing. Sometimes Neliel popped out in the Human World – once she waited for his return and fell asleep on his bed, Ichigo almost had a heart attack at her showing cleavage. The last he heard of Grimmjow was few months after the quincy battle, when the Arrancar dragged him in Hueco Mundo for a revenge battle.

Whenever Ichigo thought at the outcome of their fight, his stomach twisted but his mind was quick to recall that Grimmjow disappeared without leaving a trace. He always had this fear he would have shown himself during one of his classes pretending to have a fight.

Once he asked Nel about him. She shrugged; a number three wasn’t interested of what a number six was doing as long as that number six wasn’t bringing any harm at the hollows’ newborn society, she said. At least it seemed like he didn’t go straight into some danger and Ichigo decided that life just went on and some people were bound to disappear from it. However, it took him a year to stop blushing at the thought of the outcome of their last battle, even though the stomach kept twisting anyway.

Ichigo thought about Grimmjow again one lazy Monday morning.

He was back in Karakura for the Golden Week. He refused Orihime’s proposal of spending some days together in Kyoto and she invited Tatsuki instead. The day after, Tatsuki scolded Ichigo for being such a big idiot to refuse Orihime.

When he woke up, Ichigo first realized Orihime and Tatsuki should have been arrived in Kyoto long way before he opened his eyes. Then he wondered how many years passed since his last fight with Grimmjow. Two? Three? Time always passed too fast when looking at the past.

The doorbell rang, but he didn’t get up. Ichigo crawled under the sheets to find a more comfortable position and closed his eyes. He was grateful that his dad was away for a meeting with other doctors and had at least two days of rest assured.

He heard footsteps rushing to his door and Yuzu entered the room without knocking.

“Ichi-nii! Wake up! There’s a friend of yours!”

Ichigo made a mental list of those who already knew he was back home and had the chance to reach him in short time. Sado, Keigo…

“Okay, I’ll get up.”

He didn’t want to -he wanted to lean back in the bed as he sat down- but spending some time with his old friends was one of the things he missed staying in Tokyo.

The approaching steps were heavy. He thought about Renji, then wondered why he went looking for him without warning first.

_ Not a problem in Seireitei now that I have some chances to rest, please… _

The guest opened the door and Ichigo jolted. He rubbed his eyes and blinked. Everything in a handful of seconds during which Ichigo was sure he was having a daydream. However, there were no doubts: the one standing on the doorstep of his bedroom was Grimmjow.

He didn’t have the remnants of his hollow mask anymore, nor the green and black signs around his eyes, but, apart from that, nothing changed. He had the same haircut with the hair a bit longer on the neck, the same definite features and the same sharp intense look of a ferocious beast.

“…where did you take that gigai?”

“Nice to see your wounds healed too, Kurosaki.” His harsh voice was enriched with a small mocking laugh.

Ichigo bit his tongue. Nice start, after years apart. At least Grimmjow greeted him when they met at their reunion the quincy war.

“Why are you here?”

Ichigo stood up and had to restrain his desire of touching him even with the tip of a finger to make sure he was there in the flesh. Instead, he looked at him from tip to toe and noticed there was something fidgeting behind his legs. Ichigo frowned at the little hand clenching on Grimmjow’s trousers.

“Him.”

Grimmjow pointed his thumb behind himself. The hand on his trousers trembled a bit and Ichigo caught sight of a small light blue head tilting aside for an instant before retreating in his hideout. Grimmjow grasped the little owner of that little hand from the scruff of the sweater and forced him to show himself.

The little kid had blue hair like Grimmjow’s, the style resembling the arrancar’s, but that was all. His face was scared and his brown eyes were innocent as he looked with uncertainty at Ichigo. His lips trembled a bit.

“H-hello…” His feeble voice had nothing of Grimmjow’s resolved intonation. “My name is Jumoke. Nice to meet you.” He made small bow without letting go of Grimmjow’s trousers.

Ichigo opened his mouth in disbelief.

“Is he your…?”

“Of course he’s mine! I brought him inside me for six whole months!”

That statement made Ichigo’s mind slightly numb. He shook his head as he wasn’t sure of what he had just heard.

“What?”

“Since when I dropped here you’ve been only making questions, Kurosaki!”

Grimmjow snarled and Jumoke gave him a curious look. Ichigo noticed the child was scared of looking at him but not at Grimmjow and that seemed too strange, considering Grimmjow’s everlasting threatening appearance.

“Well, this is awkward! We haven’t been meeting for years and then you suddenly–“

“In reply to your second question…”

Grimmjow put a hand on Jumoke’s head, showing an incredible kindness in the stroke he gave to his hair. The kid became even cuter as he closed his eyes and moved his head against the hand like a small animal.

“…I’m here only because he wanted to meet you.”

Ichigo glanced back at the kid, who sealed his lips. He looked down as if he was embarrassed and Ichigo had a weird reminiscence of him always walking attacked to his mother’s hand.

“How old is he?”

“Four.”

So, it had been four years since their last meeting. Ichigo really sucked at keeping track of time.

There was something odd in Grimmjow. The way he moved slightly changed, he was more careful, his moves were controlled. And his eyes. A new light shone inside those blue orbs which never lost the path of Jumoke. Ichigo noticed how all Grimmjow’s senses were on alert so that he always was on track of his son.

His feral instinct didn’t lose his ferocious threat, it was just directed somewhere else. From killing to protecting. Ichigo was able to sense it from the feeble trace of his reiatsu that the gigai couldn’t fully cage. And from the big hand that welcomed the gentle touch of the small palm and intertwined their fingers with care. Was he afraid of hurting him?

“Those plasters…”

As Jumoke raised his arm to take Grimmjow’s hand, he unclenched his fingers and Ichigo noticed small pieces of plasters all over.

“He isn’t used to a human body. I told him this skin is no hierro, but kept touching around until he hurt himself.” Grimmjow scratched his neck near the jacket. “Too sensitive damn, these clothes are bothering me.”

Ichigo observed the kid; his head was drawing circles and lines as he was trying to catch with his eyes whatever he could. He wondered how much he saw in his four years of life; probably he had never been on the living world, or else he wouldn’t have had that confused light of wonder into his big eyes that looked at whatever his sight could reach.

Jumoke was walking between them, holding tight to Grimmjow. Ichigo thought they almost looked like a family and suddenly wanted to punch himself because of that stupid assumption.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

Jumoke was tugging at Grimmjow’s trousers.

“Just raise your voice!”

Ichigo widened his eyes at Grimmjow rubbing vigorously his knuckles on Jumoke’s head. The kid didn’t seem to suffer much from that strange show of affection, but he frowned a bit as he tried to push down the messy hair.

“Mama, what’s that?”

He pointed at the vendor of ice creams, selling a popsicle to a teenager from his colored cart.

Ichigo had to recover from the idea that Grimmjow had just been called “mama” without flinching.

“Kurosaki, buy him an ice cream.”

“You could at least sound less pretentious!”

Despite the annoyance at Grimmjow’s attitude, Ichigo bought a chocolate ice cream. When he came back, Jumoke was fidgeting towards the back of Grimmjow’s legs, as if he wanted to hide there, but at the same time he was attracted by that inviting cone with that brownish cream on it. An Grimmjow wasn’t letting him hide anymore behind his body.

Ichigo smiled and bended on his knees. “Here. It’s yours.” Jumoke didn’t look much convinced yet. “You know, if you wait some more it’ll melt. Or your greedy mama will eat it in one gulp.”

“Hey!”

Jumoke glanced at Grimmjow and chuckled a bit. Ichigo felt relieved when the boy took the ice cream from his hands and didn’t retreat.

Just a tiny lick and his eyes sparkled. It was heartwarming watching that little boy nibbling at the ice cream showing a great joy for that simple pleasure. When the ice cream disappeared in the last mouthful, Jumoke’s mouth was surrounded by a brown halo. Ichigo instinctively took a tissue to clean him, but he stopped the hand at the idea the boy would have avoided him.

“Come on!”

Grimmjow grabbed his waist and pressed his hand on Jumoke’s mouth, forcing Ichigo to rub the tissue.

“Grimmjow!”

As a result, Jumoke looked around in a daze, his face got dirtier and they had to drop to a public toilet. When Grimmjow and Jumoke got out, their sweatshirts were stained with spots of water.

“…did you…?”

“He was interested in the sensors of the sink.”

Ichigo wondered if Grimmjow wasn’t using Jumoke as an excuse for his own curiosity in the human world.

“Bring us somewhere fun.”

At that order, Ichigo’s suspect got stronger.

“Somewhere fun…” He looked down the street. “The center. There are cafés, arcades and stuff, but–“

“Make way.”

Because of his orange hair, Ichigo was used to the inappropriate or curious looks from other people. Going around with two other people with bizarre hair color attracted more eyes to them, but he felt more irritated than usual and glared back more than he intended too. Ichigo couldn’t understand if Jumoke was aware of the looks he was attracting, but surely Grimmjow was, as he was moving so that he could shield his son from the ones walking near them.

When Jumoke spotted a cat with his paws pressed on the show window of a café, he run to it dragging Grimmjow with him.

“Mama!” He raised his voice in excitement and Ichigo felt like he was hearing it for the first time. “Mama, what’s this? I like it!”

“That’s a cat.”

Ichigo reached them in time to see Jumoke being stunned when he spotted other cats curled in a deep sleep or walking around the café.

“Ah, Yuzu told me about this. They opened it a year ago but I’ve never been here. It’s a café where cats keep company to the customers.”

Jumoke didn’t say anything, but looked up at Grimmjow.

“Can we stay here to look at them for a bit?”

Ichigo smiled. “We can enter, if you want.”

Jumoke’s pale cheeks gained a pink shade and he opened his mouth in disbelief.

“R-really?”

“Of course!” Grimmjow remarked. “Kurosaki’ll treat us.”

“I’ll only treat him, you pay for yourself!”

Ichigo couldn’t stop thinking they were almost acting as a real family. Two parents bringing around their child who was staring at the world around him as if it was filled with wonders beyond imagination.

The chair was too tall and Jumoke’s feet didn’t touch the ground. He was fidgeting on the chair, waiting for the arrival of anyone of the cats. He didn’t wait much. Ichigo was still going through the menu when a chubby white and orange cat paced in slow motion to them; despite his fat looks, he climbed on the table in one jump. Grimmjow grabbed it by the scruff of the neck without much kindness and put it on Jumoke’s lap. The cat meowed because of that rude attitude, but didn’t reject the kid and curled on his lap. On Jumoke’s face there was a mix of confusion and joy; he gently patted the head of the cat, almost retreating the hand at each caress.

“It’s soft!”

Ichigo realized that in Hueco Mundo there was no chance to find something similar to a cat. Even if he recalled the lizard-like hollow and wondered if the spirits of animals could turn into hollows. But that sounded like a stupid question, so he didn’t ask Grimmjow.

“What do you want to eat?”

Ichigo tried to make a contact with Jumoke. The boy glanced at him keeping his head down, his eyes darted towards Grimmjow. Ichigo didn’t give up and opened the menu.

“See, this is strawberry cheesecake and–“

“You have a cake name.”

Jumoke held his breath as if he had just discovered another wonderful thing.

“Uhm, not really…”

“May I eat that cake?”

“Sure.”

“Mama, may I?”

Grimmjow was interested in looking at the photos into the menu as he was swinging his arm down to entertain a gray cat who was trying to catch his fingers. “Of course. It’s Kurosaki’s treat.”

Ichigo wanted to smash the menu on Grimmjow’s face, but he just raised his hand to catch the attention of the waitress.

When their order arrived, Jumoke observed all the sweets and kneeled on the chair to have a better view. As he said “Thank you.” to the waitress, the young girl smiled back.

The boy’s enthusiasm died right before digging in the piece of cake.

“What’s wrong?”

“…this is so cute. I don’t want to ruin it.”

Grimmjow almost didn’t let him finish: he used his fork and brutally stabbed the sweet. Both Ichigo and Jumoke jolted. He carved a small piece and put it into the boy’s mouth. Jumoke’s cheeks turned red and his eyes sparkled.

“Delicious!”

“Here.” Grimmjow took a piece of his chocolate and berries tart. “Try this one too.”

Ichigo looked at Jumoke nibbling the mouthful from Grimmjow’s fork. He cut a small piece from his chocolate and vanilla cake.

“Uhm… if you want, you can taste mine too.”

Jumoke already had spots of chocolate around his mouth. The huge smile on his face lessened as he turned to Ichigo and looked less confident than before. But he took the fork and ate the nibble.

“T-thank you.”

There was a whole word of expressions behind that worried tiny face and Ichigo could grasp them only when Jumoke was too busy at admiring the world around him to remember he was around.

And Grimmjow didn’t change at all, but was so different with Jumoke. He was patient, his gestures towards him were a bit harsh but full of affection; he cleaned his mouth and when they were finished, he waited for him as the boy finished to pet one last cat that was walking around the entrance. Ichigo expected him to snarl, to drag him out, but instead he was walking at the same pace of his son and listened to all his requests. That side of him was surprising and Ichigo started feeling again the warm crawl into the stomach.

“What’s that?”

Jumoke pointed at a claw crane at the entrance of an arcade. A huge brown teddy bear made all the other plushies seem too small.

“You guide the claw and if you’re lucky you get the prize.”

“Like what?” Grimmjow got closer to inspect it. “This device is similar to one I saw once in the lab of that freak.”

“Freak?”

“Eight Espada. What if it comes to life or something?”

“…machines don’t come to life…”

Ichigo put a coin into it. He had never been god with claw cranes and in fact the first attempt was miserable, he didn’t even manage to raise the teddy bear. Grimmjow elbowed him.

“My turn.”

His first attempt was better than Ichigo’s, but the Teddy Bear fell again in the same spot, with the only difference in the head, it tilted towards left and not towards right anymore.

“Kurosaki, another coin.”

Ichigo didn’t trust the slight sinister light inside Grimmjow’s eyes, but when that look pierced him, he resigned and handed over a banknote.

“Go change it there. You have six more attempts with this amount. Don’t kill anyone, please.”

“You think I’m Nnoitra? I’m not killing who can’t defend themselves.”

“You could also try another arcade rather than insisting on the–”

“Don’t leave Jumoke for a single instant, Kurosaki.” Grimmjow threatened him with his imposing presence. “Jumoke, don’t leave his side.” His voice softened.

Ichigo looked down at the boy and could only see the blue hair over his head bended towards the ground. He grabbed his trousers, but wasn’t looking at him.

“Hey… do you want to sit over there?”

Jumoke nodded without knowing what Ichigo was pointing at.

They sat on a white bench outside the arcade and had a perfect view of the claw crane. Jumoke looked uncomfortable; he was doing all his best to look away from Ichigo and kept clenching his hands together, rubbing the tips of the fingers on his skin.

“So, this is your first time in the living world.”

The boy turned his head enough to share a quick glance.

“…yes.”

“Did you want to see it?”

“…yes.”

His voice trembled at each word.

“Do you like it?”

“…yes.”

Ichigo started to feel uncomfortable knowing that he was making the kid feel uncomfortable as well. From her sisters to Nel, he had always had some losses when it came to deal with children.

“I…” Jumoke started. “I… wanted to meet you.” The tone decreased until it became a sigh, but Ichigo heard him. The boy didn’t stop looking at his hands. “I wanted to meet my papa. That’s why mama brought me here.” He finally raised his head. “Do you think I’m a stupid?”

“I don’t think you’re stupid. Why should I?”

“…other hollows keep mocking me because I’m not a very hollow and they say I’m stupid…”

Probably stupid wasn’t the right word, Ichigo thought, but he let Jumoke go on without interrupting him.

“And mama beats them down. I like Hueco Mundo with mama, but I’m not all hollow.”

He sobbed the final words.

Ichigo put a hand on his head. “Do you want to know a secret?”

Jumoke nodded.

“I’m in the living world, but I’m not a complete human.”

That was the longest look they shared since they met. Jumoke calmed down, he wasn’t fidgeting anymore and from his eyes were less teary.

“Really really?”

“You can ask mama if you don’t believe me.”

He didn’t intend to call Grimmjow _mama_. It was so natural referring to him like that,  Ichigo felt strange when he realized it.

A crashing sound from the arcade distracted them: Grimmjow was kicking the machine. Ichigo jumped on his feet.

“Grimmjow! What the hell are you doing?!”

They escaped before the guard could hunt them down.

Jumoke fell asleep when the sky was getting ready for the settling sun burning over the horizon. He started to yawn and rub his eyes, so Grimmjow gave him a piggyback ride and the boy leaned his head on the shoulder and closed his eyes.

“His behavior isn’t the slightest similar to yours.”

It had been since that morning Ichigo wanted to point it out.

Grimmjow grinned. “You should see him on a hunt.”

“Hunt?”

“He hasn’t been raised in this frilly word where the worst danger is being run over. He has to protect himself.”

“But why the hunt?!” Ichigo freaked out on the moment. “He’s just a kid!”

Grimmjow snorted. “Don’t talk as if you are a hollow counselor and just convince them changing their lives when they arrive here.”

Ichigo could have replied, but he didn’t want to ruin the almost calm mood between them.

“He said he wanted to meet me.”

“That’s why I brought him here.”

“And why didn’t you bring him before? Why did you hide this?”

They kept walking. Grimmjow looked at him directly.

“I saw the bodies of the Arrancar, how one of the shinigami used them as a puppet. What if one of your friends saw Jumoke and spat it around? And what if you didn’t want anything to do with this? Don’t give me that hurt look, Kurosaki.” He cut off Ichigo’s complain before he could make any. “An arrancar with a male body who gives birth to the child of the shinigami who’s human and hollow at the same time. If the one who killed Szyael Aporro is only the slightest as mad as he was, I’d rather have him and my son being at least two worlds apart. And I recall enough from my human life to say that not everyone would be pleased by this situation.”

Ichigo forced to keep his mouth shut.

They arrived at home and Yuzu, delighted by the sleeping boy, obtained to make Jumoke lay on her bed. Ichigo observed him submerged in a deep sleep without any sign of trouble over his face; he was peaceful and didn’t move of an inch even when Yuzu put the blanket on him.

She went out right after and the silence entered the house.

“When he awakens, we leave.”

Ichigo nodded at Grimmjow. Then punched him in the face where he used to have the remnants of his hollow mask.

Grimmjow didn’t expect it and almost fell down under the strength of the hit. As he gained again the balance, his eyes were filled of anger.

“The fuck is this?!”

He grabbed Ichigo’s t-shirt, but the man didn’t flinch and gave him a silent severe look.

“You ask me?” His body was firm, but his voice was trembling. “You can’t imagine, can you, Grimmjow? You disappeared and then appeared again with our child. You hid him from me, you didn’t trust me!”

Grimmjow smashed Ichigo’s back against the wall. “Oh yes, trust you! You should have seen your shitty face when we were done and how fast you went back to your friends!”

“You can’t decide on your own! You had to tell me!”

“I didn’t want to tell you, Kurosaki!”

Ichigo was hurt by those words. “Why?!”

Grimmjow’s lips trembled, yet he controlled his voice. “Because you have your fucking life… You have a family, you have a place here. There’s no place for hollows in the living world and there’s no place for humans in Hueco Mundo. Have you thought about that? Probably not.” He growled in a low tone with a deep glare. “That’s why I hate you. You always charge the problems with your shitty head down, thinking you can break the world and you don’t care about those around you as long as you think you’re doing the right thing! You want to protect everyone, but you barely open your eyes and ears to them!”

Ichigo didn’t reply. Grimmjow made a bitter smirk at his silence.

“It’s easier protecting him from blood-thirsty hollows than from scheming shinigami and quincies. You can’t hide him forever if we pretend we are a freaking loving family and shinigami won’t be late at spouting wise.”

Ichigo’s arms dropped to his side as he let go of Grimmjow’s shoulders, but he didn’t step back.

“My father is a shinigami and my mother was a quincy.”

Grimmjow let a bit of shock slip out. “Quincies are humans.”

“You witnessed the hatred between shinigami and quincies. Nobody ever came to find my father when he disappeared in the living world. I don’t know why, but I’ve never asked… probably Aizen was behind this.” He recalled Aizen’s confession on how he guided his growth and felt the irritation which lingered from the rage of many years before. “I’m angry at you, Grimmjow. I know you did it for Jumoke’s sake. But I’m angry and I don’t understand why you didn’t lie to him and just tell him I was dead, if you despise so much the idea of us being together.”

Grimmjow snorted. “Do you think I’d lie to my son, insolent dumbass!”

He got so close that Ichigo half closed his eyes and moved his head to side. But Grimmjow’s lips, so close and inviting, didn’t meet his mouth. Ichigo felt his breath on the ear.

“And when did I say I despise the idea of us being together, Ichigo?”

“…this is a cheap shot.” Ichigo leaned his forehead on Grimmjow’s shoulder. “I’m still angry at you, stupid Arrancar.”

“I’ll be forever angry at you, dumbass shinigami.”

The weight of Ichigo’s head on the shoulder, his hair tickling the neck and his arms around the waist made the cage of that gigai less uncomfortable.

Ichigo hadn’t been feeling that clamp at the stomach since when he greeted Rukia, believing it would have been the last time they met.

In his spirit form, Jumoke had his mask on the right side of his face, a tiny little white piece covering the temple and arching a bit around the corner of the eye with the beginning of a small horn near the forehead; it ended at half of the cheek in sharp teeth resembling the upper part of Grimmjow’s mask. He was dressed in black and white and looked too small and innocent for his zanpakutō . Especially behind Grimmjow’s legs.

“Your gigai?”

“The mad hat.”

“I see…”

Jumoke looked up at Ichigo. “Uhm… a-are we friends now?”

Ichigo didn’t expect that. “Uh? Yes, if you want we are.” That wasn’t the reply he wanted to give, but he was caught by surprise and agreed with him.

“If mama is okay, may I come to visit sometimes?”

“Of course.” Ichigo smiled. “You are always welcome here.”

Jumoke flushed. “Thank you…”

Grimmjow looked at both. “If we’re finished–“

“No, wait Grimmjow!” Ichigo bended on his knees so that he was almost at the same level as Jumoke. “Jumoke, you know I’m your… hum… dad, right?”

Jumoke hesitated before nodding.

“I won’t impose anything on you. Whatever you want to do, you can always count on me. Even if you’ll come back here in a hundred years’ time.”

The boy rubbed his cheek, his eyes wandered towards his feet. Then he walked to Ichigo and cupped his hands near his ear, speaking in a low voice.

“Mama said I could have stayed here with you if I wanted because I’m a bit human and you are a nice papa, but I don’t want to be without mama. But it’s a secret and I can’t tell you.”

As he went to Ichigo, he walked away.

“What did you tell him?”

Jumoke shook his head. “It’s a secret.”

Ichigo stood up. “Don’t worry, you aren’t involved in it.”

“As if.” Grimmjow grimaced at him. “Kurosaki, better for you to be in one piece when we’ll meet again.” He opened the garganta behind his back. Ichigo gave a sad glance to the dark space of Hueco Mundo.

“Keep blabbering and the shinigami will notice your presence.”

“Tch, insolent as always.”

“And you are full of yourself.”

Jumoke waved the hand at Ichigo and Ichigo waved back. The last greeting Grimmjow gave him was a quick look and his tongue stuck out. Then the garganta closed and Ichigo remained alone in the street.

They stayed only for less than a day, it felt like more but seemed as if few hours were just a handful of minutes.

“Ah, damn it. It’s almost dinner time…”

Ichigo truly had a bad track of time.

Ichigo was 25, doctor in training, still a substitute shinigami and still a bad tracker of time.

He woke up that Sunday morning believing it was already 10 am, but it wasn’t even 9. He sighed at the alarm clock and turned on the other side, stretching his right arm from under the blankets. His hand quietly landed on the shoulder of the person sleeping next to him.

Grimmjow didn’t move when Ichigo slid the hand to his cheek and poked his lips with the thumb.

“Grimm-joooow.” He muttered getting a bit closer. “Hey…”

Ichigo spoke near his lips and kissed them, but got no response.

“…alright.”

He sat down and looked around for the jacket of his pajama. He found the trousers lying on the floor near the bedside, while the jacket was at the foot of the bed. Grimmjow’s pajama was near the door and Ichigo, while picking it up, thought they were lucky that nobody disturbed them during the sleep.

Ichigo went into another room where a single messy bed was empty. He looked around before closing the door and opening the one adjacent. Jumoke was sleeping under the strawberry patterned cover; during his sleep, he resembled Grimmjow a lot more . Ichigo entered the room and noticed messy orangish hair pressed against Jumoke’s chest.

“Hey. Jumoke, Haruki. Wakey wakey.”

The orange head moved a bit and jumped on his knees, making the whole mattress swinging. Ichigo smiled at a small copy of himself with clear blue eyes. Jumoke muttered something and rubbed his eyes.

“Daddy!”

Haruki jumped on Ichigo who grabbed him as he grabbed on his sweatshirt. Jumoke was sit with his eyes half-closed.

“Good morning, papa…”

Despite being 8 years old, he didn’t lose the innocent look he had at 4. He looked more naïve than his younger brother, whose giant smile gave the hint he could soon turn into a rascal.

“How about going to wake up your mother while I prepare breakfast?”

“Yeeees!”

Haruki leaped down from the hug of his father, but waited for Jumoke to get off the bed and rushed to grab his older brother’s hand.

Ichigo let them go to their bedroom and reached the kitchen. He had just put the frying pan on the fire when Jumoke went tugging his trousers.

“Papa… Haruki jumped on mama to wake him up, but mama hugged him and now Haruki and mama are asleep.”

“Really?” Ichigo smiled. “This means we’ll eat the pancakes on our own.”

“With chocolate?”

“Of course.”

Jumoke’s face lightened up from the slumber of the night lingering on him and the boy set the table for breakfast on his own. As he took the milk from the fridge, a huge hand ruffled his hair and he laughed.

“Mama!”

Grimmjow was carrying a sleeping Haruki on his right arm; the face of the child was digging on his shoulder.

“Cotton Candy, you still with the messy hair.”

He kept rubbing his hair among Jumoke’s chuckles. Grimmjow stopped when he felt a hand sinking into his hair.

“Look who’s talking.”

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at Grimmjow bed-head, his locks falling down on his face and neck. Grimmjow turned and pecked him on the corner of the mouth. He licked his lips.

“You already ate some chocolate.”

“So what?” Ichigo tilted his head.

“At least I’ll have something to squeeze at night, your human body’s getting skinny.”

Ichigo covered Jumoke’s ears. “And your human ass is getting fatty.”

“You don’t seem to dislike that in bed.”

“Numbskull.”

“Dumbass.”

Ichigo pecked on Grimmjow’s lips.

“Still a skinny dumbass.” Grimmjow replied.

“And you’re still a numbskull with a fat ass.”

Jumoke looked at them. “May I listen again now?”

Ichigo removed the hands. “Wake Haruki up. Breakfast’s almost ready.”

Grimmjow sat down. “Pumpkin, breakfast’s ready.”

Haruki’s head jerked straight as if he was a small robot whose switch on button was pressed. He took his sit next to his mother and it seemed that the small nap never happened.

Jumoke hadn’t even eaten half of his first pancake when Haruki took the second one. Grimmjow placed on his pancakes half of the strawberry jam and Jumoke took the other half. Ichigo observed how Haruki took a piece from his plate and one from Grimmjow’s, who kept pretending he wasn’t noticing it until he stole one piece of chocolate pancake from his son, who held his breath in a dramatic display of disbelief.

“Oi.” Grimmjow pinched Ichigo’s nose and he awakened from his silent contemplation. “What’s wrong, Ichigo?”

“Ah, nothing… just thinking that it seemed yesterday when we first met.” They hadn’t told yet their sons their beloved mother tried to kill their father three times and almost managed to twice. “But it’s been ten years.”

Grimmjow shut Ichigo up thrusting a piece of pancake into his mouth.


	2. Fathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo looks for a piece of advice on the situation from his father. And Isshin, of course, is puzzled but curious about meeting his grandson.

Two cups of teas, some biscuits -probably Yuzu cooked them-, the dim light of a summer late afternoon and his father sitting in front of him. Ichigo couldn’t recall if he had ever had a talk like that with his old man. He always tended to drift apart from him and it was Isshin who always trailed him and got his back whenever Ichigo was in need.

Isshin, for his part, knew that if his son asked for a talk face to face there was something terribly important behind, but he didn’t discard his natural idiot-acting.

“A nice father and son talk.” He cackled. “Now, tell me about what bothers you, Ichigo. You have no idea for how much time I waited for a chance like this! And lately also Yuzu has been avoiding me… this is what makes a father happy!” He suppressed a sob in the bend of his elbow.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. “Don’t make me regret this, old man.” He took time sipping the hot tea, his lips lingered for longer than he intended on the edge of the cup. But when he put it down, Ichigo knew he couldn’t drag it for too long.

“There’s this thing I need to tell you… and I’d like an advice from you.”

Those words were difficult to pronounce loud. Ichigo’s tone of voice lowered at every syllable until it became an embarrassed mutter. He was glad that Isshin wasn’t pressuring him and let him take his time to find the right words.

“I just want to say that it’s not a… uhm… normal thing?”

“Have you had sex, Ichigo? Even if sex it’s a normal thing.”

Ichigo was stunned, but recovered immediately. “Yes, but that’s not the point. I mean, it’s the point but… it’s difficult!”

Isshin was so serious that Ichigo couldn’t scowl at him.

“Ichigo, are you afraid she’s going to have a baby?”

“Just… let me talk, okay? It’s not about a baby!” Well, it was, but Ichigo thought that was the last stage of the explanation. “I had sex with an Arrancar.” He blurted out.

A shocked expression froze his father’s features. His eyes were wide open and the hand holding the cup stopped in mid-air on the path from the table to his mouth.

“Oh, well…” Isshin blinked. “…your mother was a Quincy, so I guess it should work.”

Probably the initial shock was due to the fact he wasn’t expecting that revelation. His smile was soft and warm, he looked happy and Isshin wasn’t the kind of man who faked over his feelings for his children.

“Who’s she? Nel-chan?”

Ichigo overcame the idea his father knew Nel and used an endearment for his name; he went straight to the point.

“No. It’s Grimmjow.” Pause. “A male.”

Isshin gave him a strange look. “I guess that’s why you never took interest in Rukia-chan or Orihime-chan. I expected it, even if not entirely.”

He was about to drink his tea, when Ichigo spoke again.

“I had sex with Grimmjow four years ago and he gave birth to our son.” Ichigo sighed. “I don’t know what to do, dad…”

Isshin kept a stoic look. Then he moved the cup closer to his face and poured the tea on his cheek instead that into his mouth. The shock was so great he didn’t notice the liquid dripping over his clothes.

“Goat face, the hell are you doing??! That’s your eye!”

Ichigo waited for his father to change his clothes. He supposed that time was useful for him to clear his mind. Ichigo hoped better than he managed to; it had been a week since he knew about Jumoke and he thought about many scenarios, many ideas, but none was good enough for the sake of the boy.

“Damn it…”

“Drink it, or it’ll get cold.” Isshin was smiling again. He sat down in front of Ichigo. “I admit you caught me by surprise. I didn’t expect such a thing.”

“It would be better if you scolded me.”

“For what? Not that you did something bad. But I can give you my smash of love if you need.”

“I refuse.”

Isshin crossed his arms. “Getting back to the main problem, what do you want to do?”

“I… don’t know. I was angry because Grimmjow kept Jumoke hidden from me, but… I mean, the situation it’s difficult.”

“Jumoke’s a nice name. How’s the boy?”

“He’s… unexpected. Since it was Grimmjow who raised him, you wouldn’t be surprised for him to be a rascal. But he’s polite and kind.”

Ichigo wondered how that could have been possible. He took a sip of his tea, turned into a lukewarm infuse, and gave a glance to his father. Isshin looked concentrated and as serious as he was when he revealed to Ichigo who his mother truly was.

“I can only think of two ways to handle this. One: you accept to be Jumoke’s father. Two: you just don’t and stay out of his life as much as possible to avoid him to suffer from a possible indecision from you.”

“Yeah, I thought that making him go to and forth from Hueco Mundo wasn’t an option.”

“Does the boy know?”

“He does. Grimmjow brought him to me just because he wanted to meet me.” Ichigo looked at his own brownish reflection on the tea. “But he’d never called me dad. Nor once. I told him we could have stayed friends and that I would have been there for him in case of need.”

“Oh, you’re already fond of him.” Isshin grinned. “This calls back memories. When you were born, I told you I would have protected you whenever you needed.”

“But it’s not right like this, dad!” Ichigo snapped. “I mean, I was angry, but Grimmjow was right about keeping him safe in Hueco Mundo. What if that Shinigami, Kurotsuchi will come to know about his existence? He’d be in danger… and it’s not like I can go and stay in Hueco Mundo or Grimmjow settling here. Being commuters from two worlds is out of question…”

Isshin did a small nod. “I see… you are kind-hearted as your mother was, Ichigo. But sometimes being so forward-looking takes away all the pleasures of the present.”

Ichigo looked at him in silence.

“Just do what you feel. Since you feel like not hurting Jumoke, you won’t choose bad for him.”

Isshin concluded his speech with a comforting smile. What he didn’t expect was his son pouting at him.

“Goat face, if it was that simple I wouldn’t have come and asked you for a piece of advice!”

“I gave you the most wonderful advice you could have received! Why don’t you show a bit more respect for your beloved father??!”

“I am at the same point as before! I don’t know what to d–“

Ichigo’s words were cut off by a brutal head-smash directed on his forehead. He wobbled back on the chair, pressing both hands over his face that turned into a mask of pain. The itch spread from his head to the throat and tears fell from his eyes as reaction.

“What’s wrong with you?!”

“Ichigo, if you don’t know what to do, then don’t do anything!”

When he opened his eyes, Ichigo was too close to his father’s serious face.

“If you keep acting being so indecisive, then you’ll only hurt those around you. Whenever you take a decision, make it decisive!”

Isshin crossed his arms and raised his chin into a heroic-like pose as he glared down at his son.

“…this keeps not being the kind of advice I was looking for… but, thanks. That hit made my mind a bit clearer.”

Ichigo sighed at his father severe nod. Then, his sharp features relaxed and he grinned.

“You know, I’d like to meet at least once my dear nephew!”

“…I had to expect it! What am I supposed to do?! Go to Hueco Mundo and say _Hey, your grandfather wants to say hi_?”

Ichigo didn’t use those exact words, but when he went to Hueco Mundo through Urahara’s garganta and met Grimmjow, that was the concept he exposed to convince him to have another trip to the living world with Jumoke.

Grimmjow looked back at Ichigo with a deep frown marking his already ferocious look.

“I knew you were dumb, but not to these extents, Kurosaki.” He explained the matter with a calm that didn’t belong to his character, yet his voice was grouchy.

“It’s not me, okay?! I know it’s a mess, but my father would like to meet with Jumoke at least once.”

“And you told your family about him?”

Ichigo couldn’t tell if Grimmjow was bothered or not.

“Just my father.”

He took a look around. Sand as far as the eyes could see and he wondered where Grimmjow and Jumoke lived, what did they feed on and if that was the right world for Jumoke to grow up in. He didn’t look unhealthy nor sad, so Ichigo felt bad for that last thought.

“Grimmjow, where’s Jumoke?”

“Playing around.”

“Alone?”

“No, with his friends.” Grimmjow sighed. “We’ve been living in Las Noches since when Jumoke was born. Tier was unusually kind with me during my pregnancy and always tried to find me.” He stuck his tongue out in disgust at the memory. “And Jumoke’s doing fine. Here the food is different, but it’s tasty and nourishing enough for Jumoke to be able to throw a cero and destroy a wing of the palace.”

“What???”

“I admit that was my miscalculation.” Grimmjow looked everything but not regretful. On the contrary, his face was shining with pride. “I thought he would have just made a scratch on the wall.”

“But you shouldn’t let Jumoke throw a cero into a palace! That’s dangerous!”

“Jeez! He has more hollow than you inside. That’s normal!”

“That’s not! What if he starts picking fights around with Adjuchas or Vasto Lorde?”

“He’d kick the shit out of them! And don’t talk me about picking fights, as you were used to pick quite a lot in high school.”

Ichigo jolted. “Hey, how do you know?”

“After Aizen’s defeat it took me a while to recover. But you lost all of your powers and couldn’t see me. That stupid mad hat made me commute for months before he admitted that maybe there wasn’t a chance for you to have your powers back!” He spat out in annoyance. “Then those Quincies arrived and there you came with your new powers and guess what?! He forgot to tell me!”

Of all that angry rant, Ichigo elaborated only a minimum part.

“You stalked me for a whole year without hurting me?”

“If I wanted to kill a normal human, I have a whole world waiting for me, dumbass.”

“That’s… kind?”

“That’s not. I wanted to fight you!”

“And now?”

“Now?”

“Do you want to fight me, Grimmjow?”

Grimmjow was taken aback and stayed silent. Ichigo realized he wasn’t expecting such an outcome and he had difficulties in finding the proper reply.

“I–“

A sudden gust of reiatsu tangled around them in a storm of sand. A low-level hollow saw them as unaware preys to devour; his laugh echoed into the air and Ichigo sighed.

“Silly Shinigami!” His distorted voice thundered, piercing right inside his ears. A tail swirled around, cleaning the space around from the sand floating in the wind and the fat body of a tall snake curled in bends on its own body appeared around them. “You’ll be my dinner!”

“How annoying…” Ichigo grabbed his sword. “I surely didn’t miss this.”

However, before he could yield his zanpakuto, something came at high speed and hit the hollow on the head. The creature made a high-pitched shriek before it’s masked heavy head fell on the sand with a loud thump. The tiny projectile that made the hollow faint run to Grimmjow.

“Mama!”

Ichigo looked at Jumoke jumping into Grimmjow’s arms, but still couldn’t believe at what he had just saw: Jumoke managed to knock out an Adjuchas just with the bare strength of his body, using a minimum of his reiatsu. And he was fast.

“Where are the others?” Grimmjow asked. What had just happened didn’t affect him as it did with Ichigo.

“When they felt a Shinigami’s reiatsu, they went back home because they were scared. I recognized Ichigo-san’s reiatsu but they were scared…”

“Ah, I’m sorry…”

Ichigo massaged the back of his head. He was used to hollow attacking him without any regards for him being sensed like a human or a Shinigami. It was logical that less powerful hollows were scared of Shinigami to the point they wanted to escape, but since he had always met those who charged him with the intent of killing, that conclusion never crossed his mind.

“Don’t worry. I’ll play with them tomorrow.”

Jumoke lowered his tone of voice. It sounded a bit less cheerful and more respectful when he spoke to Ichigo. It was an improvement, since the last time he spent the entire day holding onto Grimmjow’s trousers and looking the other way whenever his eyes met Ichigo’s. Even if his look darted down for an instant as Ichigo kept staring at him.

“Uhm… why are you here?”

Grimmjow made a gesture with his head to Ichigo which could mean everything. Not helpful at all.

“I… I was wondering if you wanted to meet my father, Jumoke.”

“Your… papa?”

“Yes. I talked to him about you and he’d like to meet you. If you want, of course.”

Jumoke turned to Grimmjow.

“May I, mama?”

Ichigo talked again. “If you want, Jumoke. You’re not forced to.”

The boy tilted his head to side, looking a bit intimidated.

“…but I do want…” His voice trembled.

Ichigo felt Grimmjow’s glare piercing right into his head: if eyes could kill, he would be squirming on the sand with a lot of blood flowing out from his body.

“O-okay, okay! Then we’ll go!”

Grimmjow put Jumoke down.

“Hey, go and try open a garganta there, okay?”

As the boy walked to a point to their right, Grimmjow was already on Ichigo, freezing him with his menacing aura.

“I want to trust you because among all the people I know, you are the one alive I trust the most. But I’ll assure you, Kurosaki, if there’ll be problems and Jumoke will suffer from them, I’ll make Aizen and Ywhach seem like paradise. Got it?”

Ichigo nodded. He had a reminiscence of his first encounter with Grimmjow, when his spiritual pressure was so strong that it scared him and Rukia to the point they froze on the spot. That time, Grimmjow didn’t need any spiritual pressure or to raise his voice, as his presence and sharp eyes were enough to give Ichigo shivers.

“I don’t want Jumoke to be hurt.” He managed to find a firm voice. “If a casualty will occur, I’ll cover both of you.”

Grimmjow snorted and walked back to his son. That was his silent way to tell he was satisfied enough.

A bit further, Jumoke had his arms held up into the air and was repeating as a tantrum. “Open Garganta! Open more! More please, Garganta!”

There was a cut in the space in front of him big enough just to accommodate him with some difficulties. Ichigo got closer and was pretty sure he could have put into that small Garganta only one of his legs.

Grimmjow grabbed Jumoke from his collar and put him down at his side. With a lazy jerk of his hand, the cut got longer and opened a space onto Urahara’s shop. Jumoke looked at the Garganta in amaze.

“You still lack concentration for this.”

Grimmjow rustled his hair, ruining the haircut similar to his own and Jumoke, with all the locks falling down, exclaimed a “Oh no!” which sounded so over-reacting yet too sincere to doubt. Ichigo couldn’t help but smile at his small back.

At the shop, Ichigo noticed many things.

First, he noticed how Grimmjow’s eyes never left Jumoke for too long. Then, he saw many little scars Ichigo was sure he didn’t have many years prior. After that, he realized that Jumoke acted carefree around Urahara and Tessai; he let Tessai pat his head and slapped his left hand on Urahara’s palm in a clumsy high five. Ichigo didn’t linger much on the figure of Urahara crouched in front of him like a sort of old man trying to emulate youngsters, but felt a bit down when Jumoke’s steps became a bit more forced and robotic as he walked near him. At last, Ichigo noticed Grimmjow’s belly button, a quick view before the arrancar covered the gigai’s torso with the t-shirt, and wondered if it was an erotic zone for him. Because for him, Ichigo, it surely was.

After that thought, Ichigo excused himself to the toilet and slapped his cheeks so hard, he left reddish traces on the face.

“You-are-an-idiot.” He spelt to his frowning reflection. “Zip your zip.”

On the way home, Jumoke walked in between them, but clung solely to Grimmjow. Ichigo wasn’t sure how he should have approached him, but the air around him was too dense, so he decided to speak with the hope of clearing it out a bit.

“My father is rather… strange. So, don’t be scared of his silly behaviors.”

Jumoke nodded in silence.

“And he’s a Shinigami.” Ichigo spotted the precise instant when Jumoke held his breath. “But for many years he’s been working as a doctor for humans. No need for that worried face.”

The boy nodded again, but his eyes were still wide open.

Grimmjow didn’t say anything until they reached home. He looked lost into his thoughts.

Ichigo walked in first. He announced their arrival aloud and was too slow to correct himself, so, what Isshin heard was a “We’re home!” that made him smile.

He welcomed them at the entrance. His son stepped aside and Isshin faced Grimmjow, barricaded behind his crossed arms, chin raised and offensive scowl. Then he looked down and noticed a little movement behind Grimmjow’s legs.

“Oh, hello there.” Isshin crouched down. “May I know your name?”

Jumoke peeked from behind Grimmjow. “Uhm… Jumoke. Nice to meet you…?”

“Nice to meet you, Jumoke. I’m Isshin.” He grinned. “Do you want to have a snack? I prepared biscuits.”

The boy replied with a small series of quick nods. “May I, mama?”

Grimmjow growled a “Yes.” and Jumoke managed in his timid attempt of taking Isshin’s hand.

Jumoke didn’t have many problems at being guided to the kitchen, Ichigo thought with a hint of annoyance. He was left behind with Grimmjow, who trusted Isshin enough not to tail his soon as soon as he took the first step away from his side.

“Jumoke always asks for your permit.”

“Nah. Just when he doesn’t know people. I guess it makes him feel more comfortable around strangers. Give him two biscuits and he’ll stop asking me.”

“So, you _do_ eat human food.”

“Sometimes I bring in some for him. And I’m not the only one. There’s plenty of hollows who steal food.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Think what you like. It’s not like I came here to make an overview of hollow’s life to you.”

Ichigo snorted. “I’ve never asked for that.”

Grimmjow snorted back. “Well then!”

When they went into the kitchen, they took opposite sits. Jumoke was in the exact middle between them, nibbling chocolate biscuits together with Isshin. He was looking at the man and listening to him as he was swinging his legs too short to reach the floor.

“Twins, Yuzu and Karin. They’re my precious daughters!”

It seemed like he was talking about his family and Jumoke was as interested as he was when he saw the cats into the café. Ichigo saw again the stars inside his eyes and they multiplied as Isshin went on with his talk. As he named soccer, Jumoke asked what that was and the man gave him a detailed explanation of the game. Jumoke asked if opponents could kill each other, if they used swords and if it was correct to move underground. It wasn’t difficult to recognize his hollow background into that, but Isshin didn’t seem to mind and he answered as if those questions were the most normal into the world.

Ichigo would have payed to know what was going on inside his father’s brain. But the serene and reassuring smile was enough for him. Ichigo wished it was so simple for him too to create a bond with Jumoke; instead, the small threat he thought had been sewed, seemed to be have been severed. He had no problems in dealing with children, he had always dealt with them since when he remembered, may have they been alive or not. However, he just couldn’t get in touch with Jumoke.

“May I have other cookies?”

Jumoke pushed the empty plate towards Isshin and didn’t give a single glance to Grimmjow until he reprimanded him.

“Hey. Just few more.”

“Okay mama!”

He stuck to his mother’s words and just ate three more biscuits. When he drank the milk, his mouth was a mess of white and brown. Jumoke took a tissue and passed it all over his face.

“You’re still dirty…” Isshin flickered the tip of his nose. “…here.”

Jumoke retreated his head and rubbed his nose with the back of the hand. He understood there was nothing and was confused at Isshin’s grin. Then he tended his arms forward, beeping on the man’s nose with the right index. Jumoke giggled at his smile.

“May I bring him to the park?”

Ichigo thought his father took a step longer than his leg. He couldn’t imagine how Grimmjow would have left his son go alone into Karakura with a Shinigami he barely knew.

“Alright.”

But, of course, nothing ever followed Ichigo’s expectations.

“What’s a park?” Jumoke asked. “Mama’s coming?”

“No, you go on your own.”

At those words, the boy gasped and straightened his back as if he was given an order. His eyes burnt of an innocent pride.

“Okay mama, I won’t let you down!”

Grimmjow poked his head hard enough to make him bend it.

“Silly. Just go and play. Don’t worry about bad hollows or shinigami.”

“Yes!”

Isshin’s hand was very big and it enclosed Jumoke’s little one. Ichigo had a quick nostalgic reminiscence of them going together at the park when Isshin had no work at the clinic. When they left, he went back to Grimmjow, who had occupied the entire sofa.

“I thought you would have said no.”

“And why that?”

Ichigo shrugged. “You just…” _don’t look the type_. However, that sounded so wrong that he stayed silent.

“Why didn’t you go to the park too?”

Ichigo was taken aback. “I didn’t want Jumoke to be uncomfortable, that’s all.”

“Uncomfortable?”

Grimmjow was piercing him with his eyes and Ichigo realized that his fear sounded more stupid said aloud.

“Yes. I think he’s still a bit uncomfortable around me. I don’t want to impose myself.”

“You don’t want, but asked him if he wanted to meet his grandfather.”

“But–“

“He’s still afraid you don’t like him, so he doesn’t know what to do and he does nothing as he doesn’t want to bother and just waits for you to do something.” Grimmjow sighed. “The other day he spent the entire afternoon talking to Neliel’s giant worm and asking if he should have dropped here for a visit or not.”

“You spy on your son.”

“Neliel spied on him. Usually I leave him on his own if he’s in Las Noches. Few ones dare to defy Tier’s authority and trespass the edges to bring chaos.” Grimmjow smirked. “And no one dares to touch my son, or I’d make them beg for hell.”

“I see… not easy growing a child in Hueco Mundo.”

He thought he grasped the reason behind Grimmjow’s choices and understood why he let Jumoke hanging around with Isshin. Ichigo thought Grimmjow was over-protective, but of course he had to be in Hueco Mundo, where dangers lurked around the corner. Not that human world was different, but there was Isshin with the boy and Ichigo realized that made him feel at ease.

“You look tired.”

Ichigo didn’t know why he didn’t notice that before. Maybe because he associated Grimmjow’s strange calm to his new role as a parent, but he looked tired.

“Hah? I’m not.”

“But your reiatsu–“

“I’ve been pressed inside a fake body custom-made for shinigami. Does it ring a bell?” He snorted. “Now you act like all worried and considerate?”

Ichigo didn’t reply. He pushed a foot against Grimmjow’s hip and managed to catch him by surprise, making him fall from the sofa. Grimmjow looked up at Ichigo’s satisfied smirk.

“You’re coming up with the excuse of being inside a human body?”

His mocking voice ignited Grimmjow’s spirit. He was on Ichigo before he could defend himself and pinned him down with his whole body. All Ichigo managed to do was grabbing Grimmjow’s hands with his own, in the attempt of turning the tables.

“And you’re coming up with the excuse of having spent the last years like a lazy ass?”

Ichigo frowned. “Who’s a lazy ass?”

He raised his head enough to peck on Grimmjow’s lips. As his pressure was numbed because of the sudden surprise, Ichigo grabbed Grimmjow’s clothes and managed to flip him over. However, he didn’t consider the length of the sofa and his back didn’t touch completely the soft cushions, slipping down to the floor. He dragged Grimmjow with him and both rolled over.

“Ow… Kurosaki, you’re an idiot.”

“It was just a miscalculation, geez.”

But Grimmjow heard no excuses and was again on him.

When Isshin and Jumoke came back, they were both tired. Jumoke spent the entire time going to every ride and talking to every kid who approached him because of his silly hair color. Isshin didn’t remember it was so tiring, yet satisfying, running behind a child.

“Do you want something to drink?”

“Yes!”

“Go rest on the sofa, I’ll get you a juice.”

“’kay!”

Jumoke landed on the sofa, bouncing once with a giggle. He turned his head and looked at the books into the furniture, before his attention was caught by the giant poster attached on the wall. He got down from the couch and stopped in front of the photograph. A beautiful woman with wavy light brown hair was smiling at him.

“She’s my mother.”

He jolted at Ichigo’s voice. Ichigo was next to him, looking at the photograph with a smile.

“Actually, my father changes this poster once a month, even if it’s been ages I’ve been telling him to stop, geez…” He pouted. “Do you want to see other photographs?”

Jumoke did tiny small nods in silence. Ichigo took from the shelf three huge books with different covers and went sitting on the sofa.

“Come here.”

He patted the place at his side. Jumoke stared at it, a bit overwhelmed by the whole situation. However, he took slow steps until he reached the couch and sat on it.

“My father loved to take my mother’s photographs. Mine and my sisters’ too after we were born, but these three are the ones filled with my mother’s photos.”

“Where’s your mama now?”

“She died when I was a child.”

Jumoke’s eyes widened and Ichigo was afraid he would have cried. He was quick and opened the first book at a random page.

“Look. This is me when I was born.”

Jumoke stared at the photographs in amaze.

“You were small.” He stated getting a bit closer.

“I was. Ah look, here I was around your age.”

Ichigo turned some pages and showed a photograph of him into his mother’s arms. He was clinging to her shirt, a big smile on his face and his eyes filled with tears.

“Why were you sad?”

“I wasn’t sad. When I was with my mother, I became happy no matter what. Probably I was crying and she came to cheer me up. That happened quite often.”

Without noticing, Jumoke sat on Ichigo’s lap to have a better view of the photographs. He asked questions for each one and Ichigo’s replies became short stories of episodes of his life.

Isshin looked at them from the doorstep of the kitchen, with the can of juice in his hand. When Grimmjow came down, he reached Isshin. His hair was still wet.

“Oh, did you take a shower?”

“Yup…”

“And that red mark on your neck–“

“We fought. And that fucker bit me to get free from my grip.”

“I thought that–“

“We had sex last time I came here.”

“That is quite an unrequired piece of information.”

Grimmjow gave him a silent frown that didn’t give any open space. But Isshin didn’t mind that attitude and he kept speaking as if Grimmjow didn’t make clear he wasn’t interesting in a conversation.

“I thought you would have gone back as soon as we arrived.”

“No, it’s fine like that.”

From the other room, they heard Jumoke giggling. “But you were really so small!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This second chapter pinpoints the exact moment which will lead to another important event. You can try to guess it, but it'll be told in the third chapter. Just one week to wait!
> 
> I wanted to give Isshin some space in this story, more than Yuzu and Karin, because it hurt how we didn't see his interactions with his grandson in the manga. Kubo, you monster!
> 
> I forgot to tell in the previous chapter: the title refers not only to the span of time since the last time Ichigo and Grimmjow met, but also (more or less) to the span of time from the chapter to the last paragraph, where Jumoke's 8/9 years old and Haruki is four. The title of this chapter is simpler, but it embodies its meaning.


	3. Mothers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jumoke puts himself in what seems a dangerous situation.

When he was at the dormitory, Ichigo used to spend his evenings locked into his room surrounded by books. Sometimes he accepted invitations to small parties, but since he didn’t like to get drunk with too many strangers around, he usually watched movies on his own or studied. When he was in a good mood, he took a walk and sometimes he even chatted a bit with the shinigami patrolling the area. Once, he even met Yumichika in the middle of his duties.

That evening he was leaning stomach down on his bed and looking at drawings of the nervous system when a sharp reiatsu struck him to the point he felt sick. Ichigo jumped down the bed and opened the window.

Grimmjow almost crushed on him, leaping inside the room.

“Grimmjow!” Ichigo was stunned. “What the hell?”

“Get ready, we’re going to Soul Society.”

“Eh?”

Grimmjow’s reiatsu was trembling of a feeling Ichigo had never felt coming from him. Anger, desperation, worry. That mix was slithering inside him, sharpening his nausea and making his head spin.

“Grimmjow, you can’t–“

“Jumoke went to Soul Society. I need you to enter without being attacked.”

It was like he received a slap into the face. The realization opened a path inside the heavy atmosphere surrounding Grimmjow and Ichigo felt better in his body, but worst in his mind.

“Why?”

“Who knows? Just move!”

Ichigo had little time to be amazed at Grimmjow’s ability in opening a path to warp from two points in the same world. When they reached Urahara’s lab, the portal to Seireitei was ready to work and Ichigo let his human body in Tessai’s care.

In an angle of the room there were three Hollows. One was so big it had to crouch, but still the head touched the ceiling. It was completely beige with many arms and its white mask had three black spots that resembled being its eyes and mouth; the holes were bended in a sad expression and those that should have been the eyes were trembling. It sobbed with an unexpected tiny female voice and one of the other two Hollows, one sitting on her legs, patted on one of the arms. He looked almost like a teenage human boy with bizarre lilac curly hair, if it wasn’t for the claws he had instead of the hands and feet and the mask covering his eyes with a single hole at the center. There was a smaller Hollow on his head, a round ball of lemon fur which had sharp teeth showing through the sad grimace; its mask ended in a small pointy horn.

When Ichigo hesitated at getting closer to them, all jolted and the biggest Hollow squeaked.

“He’s not an enemy!” Grimmjow snarled. “And stop crying! I’ll bring Jumoke back.” Then he muttered among his teeth. “Fucking brats, who told them to follow me?”

The humanoid Hollow sniffled. “When he said he was going to Soul Society, we thought it was a joke. Sorry mister Grimmjow…”

The big Hollow nodded with a small sob, while the ball of fur enclosed itself into two long feathered wings to hide its weeps.

Urahara got closer to them. “You go. We’ll take care of the children. They’ll help us getting rid of some sweets I prepared today.”

However, Ichigo didn’t move.

“Wait, Grimmjow. You can’t go.”

For an instant, everyone thought Grimmjow would have sliced up Ichigo. The killing intent exploded at those words, but Ichigo didn’t show any sign of fear or surprise. He gave Grimmjow a serious look, but the arrancar’s eyes could have killed him.

“And why that?” His voice was too calm to be a good sign.

“Because it’s dangerous! You are an arrancar and I’m not sure if it’s–“

“Bullshit!” Grimmjow barked, making the Hollows jolt in fear. “I don’t take this shitty advice from the one who burst into Seireitei and then Hueco Mundo! If you don’t move, I’ll leave you here!”

“He-hey! Wait for me!”

Ichigo run after Grimmjow and the portal closed behind them.

Urahara closed his fan. “Good then.” The Hollows pressed against the wall as he turned to them. “My my, don’t be so afraid. I may be a shinigami, but I retired long ago. I’m not an enemy.”

The hollow with lilac hair gathered enough courage to speak back. “We just want Jumoke to be safe…”

“He’ll be. If you don’t trust me, you should at least trust Grimmjow. And Seireitei has becoming a better place than it used to be.” Urahara smiled. “Now, who wants some dango?”

The children exchanged confused looks. The big one talked with a trembling cute voice that didn’t match her fearsome appearance.

“W-what is a dango?”

Jumoke decided he had to go to Soul Society.

Some days after he met with Isshin, he said to Grimmjow he was going to play with his friends, then he asked Morea, Euri and Sole to keep the secret. And he managed to open a short passage to Soul Society. Small and tight, but he squeezed himself into it.

Jumoke was quick to hide behind a corner and keep his reiatsu to a minimum so that no one would have noticed him. He sat down, waiting for the voices he was hearing to get far and looked up at the sky. It was as blue as it was in the Human World and Jumoke wondered why in Hueco Mundo it was always night. He would have asked his mother, once he was finished there.

When he didn’t hear the voices anymore, Jumoke stood up and run in the white streets, uncovering places that looked all similar to him. At a certain point, he tried to walk back, but he wasn’t sure he was returning to the same point, running in circles, or going somewhere else. There were few shinigami around, some were chatting, others were alone, but whenever Jumoke spotted a black robe, he dashed behind the first hideout he could spot.

He was a bit afraid. His mother told him stories about shinigami, especially about the evilest of all of them Aizen Sosuke, and he always recommended not to go to Seireitei. But mister Urahara was a nice man. Tessai too was a nice man. And Ichigo was a human, but sometimes he was a shinigami and he was better than he expected from his mother’s stories. Maybe shinigami weren’t that bad. Maybe.

Some steps from his hideout a bald shinigami took out his sword, pointing it at the sky. His sharp eyes observed all the others surrounding him as he grinned and Jumoke, who was peeking out of curiosity, thought that man was dangerous.

“Very well then!” The Shinigami shouted. “Who wants to fight with me first?”

After some instants of hesitation, the other shinigami jumped at him all at once. Only one stayed out of the fight. A young man with short blue eyes and strange yellow applications leaned against the wall confining with the corner where Jumoke was hiding. The man sighed.

“Ikkaku never changes. Captain will be mad because they fought without him.” He massaged his chin. “How strange… there’s a particular smell.”

As he turned his head, sniffing the air towards the hideout, Jumoke retreated, covered by the loud noises coming from the street turned into a battlefield. He run away from that place, taking a straight line to get far as soon as possible. He stopped only when he was sure he was safe again. Whatever he could have thought before, Jumoke realized that good shinigami lived only on the Human World; it seemed like all the bad ones remained in Seireitei.

He crouched down near some narrow stairs that headed up somewhere that wasn’t in sight from there. He didn’t know where to go and neither was safe. The idea of going in Seireitei didn’t seem so good now that he was in action and the regret was turning into tears. Jumoke rubbed his eyes and suppressed a hiccup.

“…I want mama…”

A sudden sharp voice broke the beginning of his cry. He jolted and looked down the street.

“I can’t believe Captain sent me doing errands! Just because yesterday I went to the hot springs without saying anything!”

That woman was dressed in black. She had long curly hair and the color was the same of the photographs that portrayed Ichigo’s mother. Jumoke stood up holding his breath in expectation and as the woman walked again, he run to her back.

“Masaki!” He yelled at her. “Masaki! Masaki!”

Jumoke jumped forward, and grabbed one of her legs. The woman jolted, her long hair waved on her back and she looked down. The big smile on Jumoke’s face disappeared.

“…you’re not Masaki.”

The shinigami was a beautiful woman, but her features weren’t those of Ichigo’s mother and Jumoke received a stare of disbelief.

“An arrancar?”

She acted fast. In the act of grabbing her zanpakuto, she pushed Jumoke away, who fell down on his rear. The woman drew her sword, pointing it against his face.

“What are you doing here! Speak!”

Jumoke had his eyes fixed on the blade of the sword. The tip glimmered at the light of the sun. He was taken aback and, when the surprise numbed, his eyes became watery. The woman hesitated in front of the tiny sobs. Jumoke hid his face on his knees.

The woman didn’t move from her position.

“Do you think you can fool me?”

Jumoke raised a bit his face. Matsumoto Ranjiku felt guilty looking at those teary big eyes glancing back at her. The arrancar’s lips were trembling. He opened his mouth and his voice broke in tiny sobs.

“I… I want mama… uuuh, mama…”

Ranjiku tried to find the trick behind that. She examined the tiny reiatsu of her opponent; the trace of his hollows power was so thin that she wouldn’t have noticed it if she hadn’t concentrated on tracking it.

“Did you come alone here? What do you–no, don’t cry!”

Jumoke was looking at her with tears rolling on his cheeks and his shoulders jerking as he tried to suppress his cries. Ranjiku knelt in front of him in agitation.

“Oh, I don’t know what to do with children! Stop crying! If you stop, I’ll give you some candies, okay?”

The child wasn’t stopping and she panicked.

“Here! Look! I’m putting away my zanpakuto!” Ranjiku enclosed her sword in the scabbard at her side. “You don’t have to cry!”

“…home…” He muttered among the tears. “I wanna go home…”

Not only she didn’t finish the errands her Captain put on her, but also she was forced to deal with a little crying arrancar. Ranjiku didn’t know how she could have faced Hitsugaya. However, she wasn’t the kind of person who overthought about some details like behaving around her Captain. And few minutes later she was knocking on the door of the room of Captain of the Tenth Division.

“Captain Hitsugaya!” She entered without waiting for a response. “I’ve found a very cute problem!”

“Matsumoto…”

Hitsugaya gave her a resigned look. He was sitting at the table with Kyoraku and there were two cups of hot tea between them. She could only guess what she had just interrupted, if a normal conversation with hints of important information or a simple afternoon between acquaintances.

“Oh, Ranjiku. As beautiful as always.” The eye of the Captain Commander lingered on the back of the boy into her arms. “And who’s the guest?”

“I found this boy wandering for Seireitei. Well, actually he jumped at me. He he.”

Jumoke turned his head for a while. The view of the shinigami made him hide his face again on Ranjiku’s shoulder, but both Hitsugaya and Kyoraku noticed the mask on his face. Hitsugaya frowned, Kyoraku looked deep in thought.

“Matsumoto, what’s going on?”

“That’s what I’d like to know, Captain! I tried to ask him many times, but he’s been crying that he wants his mother.”

Kyoraku adjusted his straw hat with a smile. “Looks like the boy lost his way home.”

“We could keep him here.” Ranjiku sounded cheerful.

“Matsumoto, what are you saying?”

“But Captain, did you take a look at his face? He’s so pretty!”

Hitsugaya frowned. “I couldn’t because he’s hiding on you. And his looks wouldn’t change anything, he’s an arrancar.”

“An arrancar with a particular reiatsu…” Kyoraku observed the steam swirling over his cup of tea.

A small chirp came from Ranjiku. She lowered her head and noticed the Arrancar was gathering all his courage to turn his head to the two men.

“…I’m… not lost.” Jumoke sniffled. “I went here…” A hiccup. “Because I looked for a mama…”

“Your mother? Poor thing.”

Ranjiku caressed his hair but he shook his head.

“No… a friend’s mom. She died in human world and I wanted to find her.” His voice was still watery and shaky, despite he wasn’t sobbing anymore.

“A human friend?”

Jumoke nodded at Kyoraku.

“How strange…”

“Well, Toshiro, after what happened in Soul Society from Aizen’s incident on, this is the strange thing I accept the most.” Kyoraku smiled again. “How about giving this young man something to eat?”

“A-Aizen’s bad.” Everyone looked at Jumoke and he went on. “Mama says he’s bad, ugly and stupid.”

The men looked at each other, while Ranjiku ruffled the boy’s hair.

“Your mama’s right. Now we’re going to eat Captain’s sweets!”

“Why don’t you share yours for once?”

Toshiro still wasn’t convinced. He looked at the brown eyes filled with tears; Jumoke sniffled and glanced back at him, tilting his head in evident confusion.

“He-hello…” He muttered hiding half of his face on Ranjiku’s shoulder.

Toshiro sighed. “Whatever… Matsumoto, your duty is to bring him back as soon as possible.”

“Can’t we keep him? He’s so cuuuuute!”

Ranjiku rubbed her face against Jumoke’s, who didn’t seem fond of her attentions. He closed his eyes while the woman was cuddling him like a pet and tried to get his face away as far as he could. Instead, Ranjiku pushed him against her bosom, stroking his hair.

“Look at these cotton candy hair! It makes you want to chew on them!”

“Matsumoto! We can’t–“

Two sudden bursts of reiatsu made them fall silent.

“Captain, this is…”

Kyoraku stood up. His stance was calm, but his expression hardened. “Kenpachi.”

“And an arrancar.” Toshiro turned to the area from where he perceived the waves of energy. “Espada level reiatsu…”

Jumoke held his breath. Ranjiku was too slow and didn’t catch him as he jumped down and flew outside the room.

“Mama!”

All the shinigami stared at him in disbelief. Toshiro was the first one running behind him.

Ichigo couldn’t believe his luck. With all the places that existed in Seireitei, Urahara sent them among a nest of beaten shinigami with Ikkaku dominating at their top. It wouldn’t have been a problem, if he wasn’t accompanied by an arrancar ready to slice in two halves whoever stood between him and the search of his son.

“Ichigo! You came here to have a good fight, didn’t you?”

“Actually, I’m looking for–“

“Baldy!” Grimmjow snorted. “You saw a child with blue hair and a mask like mine?”

Ikkaku jumped down from the human tower made of his fainted opponents and Yumichika was suddenly next to him.

The latter spoke with calm, but he was puzzled. “Ichigo, what are you doing here with an arrancar?”

Ikkaku’s face was already a mask of pulsating veins around his forehead. “Who’re you calling bald?” His hand was already on the hilt of his zanpakuto. Grimmjow snarled in annoyance at him.

“They don’t know anything. Let’s go, Kurosaki!”

“Grimmjow! Wait!”

Grimmjow turned, his eyes narrowed and sharp enough to convey his rage without saying a word. Yet, he opened his mouth, probably to bark something at Ichigo.

However, the sudden appearance of a strong reiatsu pressured on them all.

Grimmjow leaped forward, avoiding the slice that cut down on the road. He turned, Pantera already in his hand and pointed it towards the shinigami who was grinning at him.

“Looks like we have a bold one, here!” Kenpachi licked his lips. “It’s been a while since a decent enemy showed up. My zanpakuto was hibernating.”

Ichigo gave a resigned look at the man. “Just my luck… Kenpachi, wait! We’re not here to fight!”

Yumichika walked towards him. “You should tell us why you brought here an arrancar.”

Kenpachi snorted. “I don’t care, as long as it’s a good fight.” He drew his sword. “Let’s see what you got!”

Grimmjow was ready to fight. His reiatsu dense of menaces tingled, Ichigo felt it poking on his skin like countless thrones. However, he wasn’t smiling. Whenever he fought, Grimmjow had a cruel smirk on his face. Ichigo recalled his battles with him and Grimmjow’s short struggle with Shinji and Ulquiorra. Kenpachi was a strong opponent and somehow he had Grimmjow’s same attitude when it came to battles. But Grimmjow wasn’t smiling. His head probably wasn’t on the battlefield.

Ichigo took out Zangetsu and put himself in front of Grimmjow. He had just jumped between two fires and was aware of it when the Kenpachi’s murderous intent run over him.

“Ichigo, you’re in the way.”

“Kenpachi, we’re looking for a child! We have no time to fight!”

Kenpachi was surprised. He put the sword on his shoulder. “A child? What’s the matter?” He looked up at the sky for an instant. “Whatever. You’ll tell me after I’ll slice that arrancar. One is enough for a search.”

Ichigo wanted to talk back, but he was pushed aside and he saw a shadow dashing in front of him. Swords clashed one against the other and they created a sound similar to a thunder.

“Kurosaki!” Grimmjow yelled. “Go find Jumoke!” He slashed his zanpakuto against Kenpachi’s to make him retreat, but he only managed to make him take a step backwards. “What a though bastard.”

“Not bad.” Kenpachi’s grin widened. “You two!” Ikkaku and Yumichika jolted. “Help Ichigo find that child, I’ll take care of things here!”

“What things?! We’re together!”

Yumichika put a hand on Ichigo’s shoulder. “Ichigo, you brought an arrancar in Seireitei. Captain is trying to buy you time to find this child.”

“To me it looks like he just wants a good fight.”

“Well, that’s probably the main and only reason.” Ikkaku agreed. “But somehow he’s buying time.”

“I knew it…”

Ichigo looked at the battleground. He couldn’t understand why Grimmjow wasn’t attacking directly and just put on defense, receiving Kenpachi’s attacks. That wasn’t his style of fighting at all. Kenpachi raised his sword to attack. Instead of blocking, Grimmjow avoided it.

Again, Kenpachi dashed forward. And a red Cero flew at him. Big enough to enclose him completely and so strong that it wiped out the road behind him. But Grimmjow wasn’t the one who threw it.

The cloud of dust dissolved, leaving just Kenpachi, without a scratch but with his clothes torn.

“The hell was that?”

Kenpachi was entertained by the interruption and scanned the direction from where the Cero came. He spotted a small figure running like the wind at Grimmjow and jumping on him.

“Mama!”

Ichigo felt like a weight was lifted from his stomach. But when he saw the stunned expressions of Kyoraku, Toshiro and Ranjiku, another rock replaced the previous one.

A thick silence fell.

“He’s… your mother?” Ranjiku wasn’t believing it.

Kenpachi broke the uncredulous atmosphere and snarled. “Well, mom, let’s continue, shall we?”

The quarrel didn’t continue.

It was difficult to convince Kenpachi there was no mean to keep on with his battle. And it was more difficult convincing Ranjiku to let Jumoke go.

Ichigo wasn’t sure over the reasons Kyoraku decided to label everything as a minor incident. He talked about a barrier which read the intentions of whoever trespassed the edges of Seireitei and since they weren’t there to bring any harm, they managed to go back to Hueco Mundo.

“Why not to Urahara’s?”

“Because I don’t need an audience to scold my son.”

Jumoke was looking down. Ichigo tried to say something more, but Grimmjow blocked his intentions with a single look.

“Jumoke.”

Hearing his name, Jumoke jolted.

“Are you hurt somewhere?”

He shook the head. “No.”

“Good.”

Grimmjow tended his hand to him. For an instant Ichigo was afraid he would have hit the boy. But Grimmjow grabbed Jumoke’s head, forcing him to raise it. He crouched down, without relaxing his severe glare.

“Jumoke, you disobeyed me. I told you Soul Society is dangerous, yet you went there on your own.”

Jumoke’s eyes were filled with guilty regret, yet there was no trace of tears or fear. He was just sorry.

“I’m sorry, mama…”

“Whatever may be the reason behind this, you’re grounded. You’re forbidden to leave Las Noches for an entire week. And you won’t meet with your friends.”

“…okay…”

“Now tell me why you went to Soul Society.”

Jumoke looked aside.

“I… just wanted to find Masaki…”

Grimmjow frowned.

“Who–“

Ichigo knelt next to him.

“You mean my mother?”

Jumoke nodded, but he wasn’t looking directly at him. His eyes lingered on the hilt of Zangetsu. “Yes… I’m happy with mama, so I thought you are happy with your mama and I wanted to find her…”

Ichigo felt a strange itch on his chest. It wasn’t painful, but it spread to his throat, closing it into a hurtful clench that arrived to tingle his eyes. He managed to put on a smile, but wasn’t sure for how long he could fake it.

“You did it just for me, thank you… but my mother was eaten by a Hollow… She’s not in the Human World or Soul Society anymore…”

That was the first time Ichigo said it aloud. He realized it alongside with Rukia, but never expressed it through words. It felt more real and tangible: his mother didn’t exist nowhere in the world anymore. Ichigo squeezed his eyes to pull back the tears.

“But don’t do anything so dangerous anymore, okay?” He ruffled Jumoke’s hair. “We were all worried for you.”

Jumoke was looking at him on the verge of the tears. He dashed forward, hitting his chest to hide the face on it and clenched the arms around his waist. It was spontaneous and simple, Ichigo embraced him in a thigh hug and didn’t let go of that warmth until he realized Jumoke had fallen asleep.

“We have to go.”

Grimmjow interrupted his silent contemplation of the face of the boy. Ichigo let him take Jumoke. It was almost unnatural how Grimmjow acted with care, made sure that Jumoke’s head leaned on his shoulder and held him in a way it would have been comfortable for the child.

“Grimmjow.”

“What?”

“Uhm… don’t be too harsh with him, okay?”

“He’s grounded. He’ll have time to think about what he has done during this week.”

There was nothing sweet in the way he spoke, but his eyes were more relaxed than before.

“I see… I just wonder why he didn’t realize that I could go to Soul Society whenever I wanted…”

“Beats me!” Grimmjow snarled and Ichigo jolted. “He’s growing naïve like you! I hope he won’t turn stupid too!”

“Hey!” Ichigo pouted at him. “But… if something else comes up, I’ll help.”

Grimmjow didn’t say anything. He just gave Ichigo a long and silent look. Despite being fully clothed, he felt naked under the piercing blue eyes’ gaze and crossed his arms.

“I guess I should tell you.” Grimmjow stopped for a second, giving a quick bored look at the dark sky. “I’m pregnant.”

Ichigo didn’t change his expression. Nothing changed on him, he didn’t move a muscle and kept staring at Grimmjow.

“This one’s yours too. It happened when I first visited with Jumoke.”

Ichigo didn’t react.

“…oi, Kurosaki?”

Grimmjow waved a hand in front of him, but Ichigo stayed still, as if he froze under the weight of the revelation.

“Dammit, I broke him.”

A week was a long time. Jumoke realized it when he couldn’t go out from the edges of Las Noches. And since no one in that place had time to stay with him, he was alone for most of the time, enclosed into his mother’s room staring at the moon.

When there was only one day to go to his gained freedom, Grimmjow came back after three days spent into the desert of Hueco Mundo doing something Jumoke didn’t understand. Jumoke jumped at him as he stepped inside the room.

“Mama!”

“Still grounded until tomorrow.”

But Grimmjow smiled at him. He threw himself on the bed and let Jumoke climb on his chest, using it as a pillow.

While he was caressing his child’s hair, Grimmjow called his name.

“Jumoke.”

“Yes, mama?”

“Why didn’t you think that Kurosaki could go on his own looking for his mother?”

Jumoke looked at him as if he had just asked something silly.

“Because mister Urahara said he was kicked out from Soul Society and arrived on the Human World. Since Ichigo lives in the Human World too, I thought he can’t go back because they kicked him out too because he helped arrancars. And shinigami don’t like arrancars.”

“…thank god. You aren’t as stupid as he is.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if this chapter could be considered specular to "Fathers", but somehow everything revolves around two mothers, so it should be fine. Ichigo is unexperienced, while Grimmjow knows how to behave with Jumoke and knows when to be soft or hard.  
> Also, I try to render Jumoke's speech with some mistakes or simple structures. And Ranjiku isn't fit to be a mother, isn't she? But I think she takes good care of the Captain and does her best.  
> Jumoke suddenly changes idea when he feels threatened, because he is a child. Of course an older person would have followed the logic: there should be some good shinigami. But he's barely four years old and freaks out easily.


	4. Bonding Souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo has no idea on how to make things move on. And Grimmjow isn't the easiest person to deal with in the world.

Grimmjow wasn’t feeling at ease at all.

When he first realized he had a life growing inside him, almost five years prior, it took him a while to accept the whole situation, but got used to it faster than he believed. Of course, he acted more carefully and, even if with reluctance, he accepted Tier’s offer of help when the latter discovered his new status. Not because he needed help, but when he first refused, Tier didn’t seem to like his decision and bothered him about the baby until he gave up for the sake of his mental health.

Even if Grimmjow was a stubborn walking amount of pride, he was also insightful and his behavior toned down a lot since Aizen abandoned Hueco Mundo. So, he knew he couldn’t pick up fights as before, nor using the same amount of energy he used to: he was providing for another frail life and had to be careful as they were deeply connected. In retrospect, accepting Tier’s help wasn’t a bad idea and she wasn’t as invasive as she could have been either.

Now that he had another life sprouting into his soul, Grimmjow had the experience of the previous pregnancy shielding his back. So, he was aware he knew more about his own conditions and physical sensation than Kurosaki, who was studying to become a doctor. A doctor for humans. That meant he didn’t know a single thing about a Hollow pregnancy. That was Grimmjow’s battlefield. Despite that, Kurosaki took the bad habit of observing every single move Grimmjow made, making him regret he accepted to stay into Human World at least until he would have given birth to the baby.

“Good morning. Are you doing fine?”

That morning he didn’t even manage to descend the first step of the stairs that Kurosaki’s voice floated to him. Grimmjow growled something and ignored him, heading towards the kitchen.

“Hey, you should at least reply!”

“I’m walking with my own legs, so you guess!”

Ichigo pouted at him. “And here I thought you turned out a bit nicer.”

“And here I thought you turned out a bit smarter.”

They glared at each other until Ichigo spotted a sudden relax on Grimmjow’s face as his eyes darted on a spot behind him. Ichigo turned and saw Jumoke swinging down the stairs, the hair all ruffled and the eyes half closed. He wobbled towards Grimmjow and went hugging his legs, rubbing his face against the fabric of his trousers. Grimmjow patted his head.

“Still sleepy.”

Jumoke nodded.

Grimmjow knew his son had some troubles at adapting to that human body. He still didn’t manage to control himself and moved around as if he was in his spiritual form, spending more energies than he should have.

“Hungry…” Jumoke yawned while rubbing his eyes. “Mama, I’m hungry…”

“Come here, cotton candy.”

Grimmjow poked at Jumoke’s cheek, then grabbed his hand and headed to the kitchen. Ichigo looked at them without being involved in any way. Nor a glance or a nod.

He let out a small sigh.

“Ichigo, it’s time we go to the clinic.” His father put a hand on his shoulder. “Something’s wrong?”

“Not really…”

Ichigo chose to do his internship at his father’s clinic even before he started his medicine studies. He managed to anticipate it, so he prepared his exams at home and worked at the clinic during the weekdays. As a result, he was deadly tired.

However, he was sure that his weariness, both mental and physical, had another source. Ichigo was worrying over Grimmjow, his condition and Jumoke. When the Arrancar accepted to spend his pregnancy in Human World, Ichigo couldn’t believe it was so easy to convince him. Because it was safer for Jumoke, because at a certain point he would have had difficulties in protecting both himself and his son and because somehow Jumoke took a like on him and he was excited at the idea of spending some time on an entirely new place.

Grimmjow took his choice having in mind his children’s safety and Ichigo accepted it.

But something was devouring Ichigo from inside. Something lurked into his stomach, crawling whenever Grimmjow was around and Ichigo tried an approach; the thing crawled with more energy when they ended up barking at each other and tore off his guts when Grimmjow ignored him.

Ichigo sat on the chair and looked at the ceiling.

“Today all our patients felt sick at once. Looks like they made an agreement.” Isshin laughed at his own joke and when he heard no response from Ichigo, frowned. “Ichigo, everything’s okay?”

“Yeah…”

His silent contemplation of the ceiling was disrupted from a sudden shock of the chair that made him fell on the floor. His father kicked him on the hip.

“Goat face! What the hell?!”

Isshin , with his arms crossed, wrinkled his nose. “You clearly aren’t okay. You should have said _I’m in trouble daddy, please give your beloved son a piece of advice!_ ”

Ichigo was almost disgusted by the cornball tone of voice his father chose to imitate him.

“I said everything’s fine.”

“Couple trouble, huh?” Isshin scratched his chin and gave him a pensive look. “What troubles you, exactly? We have ten minutes before the next visit.”

Many times Isshin proved to be sharper than Ichigo willed to admit. That was one of the times, but in that particular case it was easy guessing what was wrong.

“I just need to adjust to all of this, that’s all.”

“It’s because you’re left out.”

Ichigo snorted. “It’s not like I can do much. I try to talk, but every single time we end up yelling at each other. It’s been a week already…”

“That makes a month pregnancy… just tell him.”

“What?”

“Tell him you want to participate.”

“Participate in what? He doesn’t let me even know how he’s feeling!”

Isshin looked serious and that made easier to Ichigo opening up.

“Try to reflect. He’s always been alone and used to take care of himself, he basically spent the first pregnancy on his own and was reluctant in receiving any kind of help. He raised a son on his own in Hueco Mundo. He can handle this pregnancy on his own, probably even better than the first one. Into his head, he’s here just because of Jumoke and who knows, maybe he’ll decide to go back if Jumoke will start disliking his stay here. He has friends in Hueco Mundo, you said. It wouldn’t be strange if he’ll miss them.”

Ichigo nodded.

“What should I do?”

“Do what you would like to do.”

That didn’t sound helpful. Isshin noticed his son’s skeptic frown.

“What do you want to do now, Ichigo?”

“I… don’t know. Just knowing how things are going without him barking at me.”

“Then just tell him. Close your books for a while and go play with Jumoke. You’ll miss many things. An exam can be re-taken. With life… it’s more difficult.”

Isshin looked at the photograph of his family on the desk. He was holding two-year-old Yuzu and Karin, while Masaki was crouched and had his arms around Ichigo in a hug as tender as their bright smiles.

“When your mother was pregnant of you, I kept going to her every hour, asking her how she was doing. Once I also wanted to bring her to her room because I was scared she might trip from the stairs. For a whole week she kept pretending she was on the verge of falling and I guess I’ve never felt so scared many times at once like that.”

His soft smile hid a hint of nostalgia as his finger run on the frame enclosing that precious photograph.

“You’re too attached, dad.”

“That’s because I cared and I did whatever I could.”

Isshin wasn’t ashamed of that memory. Ichigo could sense his pride through his strong eyes. He somehow realized what his father wanted to convey.

“…thanks.”

In the late afternoon, Isshin decided to close the clinic and let the ER take some responsibilities. Since they always threw patients at him in case of troubles, they could handle a day filled with hypochondriacs and old people who wanted to spend some of their free time somewhere.

Ichigo reached the living room and found Grimmjow sleeping on the couch, while Jumoke was sitting on the floor, drawing something similar to a Hollow on a big black paper.

Being careful to not make any noise, he went and crouched next to the boy.

“What are you drawing?”

Jumoke stopped jolting at him whenever he was close and he also overcame his mechanic reaction of enclosure, but still he wasn’t as outgoing as he was with Isshin. There was something that restrained him and that something made the thing inside Ichigo going into painful purrs that tickled his chest.

“My friends.” Jumoke took out two other papers and pointed at each of them with his tiny index. “The little one is Sole. He can’t speak, but when he’s embarrassed he becomes all spiky and you can’t touch him. This very big is Euri. She looks threatening, but she’s sweet and can make crowns with flowers and leaves! And Morea has purple hair and he knows a lot about humans.” He put the drawings back on the floor. “Do you know that even if humans kill each other, they don’t eat their meet and put them to waste underground?” Jumoke looked truly surprised. “That is nonsense!”

Ichigo ignored that curiosity he was aware of. “They’re really beautiful. There are flowers and leaves on Hueco Mundo. I didn’t know…”

“They’re all stiff and sometimes they become dust. But if you look well, you can find them. But mama doesn’t want me to go there, because Vasto Lordes and other Arrancar live there.”

Ichigo ruffled Jumoke’s hair.

“Since mama’s sleeping…” It still felt strange referring to Grimmjow as _mama_. “…do you want to go to the park together?”

It looked like he touched the right button. Jumoke’s eyes widened and glimmered in a happy anticipation. Ichigo wondered what was flowing inside the boy’s head that was creating stars into his eyes. He nodded many times and was quick at taking the pencils from the floor to put them into the case. Ichigo recognized it as the one Yuzu used during Middle School.

As they stepped outside, Jumoke grabbed Ichigo’s hand, receiving a puzzled look.

“Mister Isshin said I’m little and I have to grab a big hand when we aren’t home.”

Ichigo smiled and closed his fingers around the small hand into his.

Jumoke scurried next to him. Sometimes Ichigo felt his arm tugging because the boy was running too fast and, instead of holding him back, he adapted to his pace, feeling the impatience in every gesture. Jumoke looked around, hoping the park appeared in front of them at any corner and, when it happened, he was amazed at the trees and the colorful park games.

“What do you want to do first?”

“That!”

Jumoke pulled him to the big slide. Instead of aiming for the steps, he started the climb on the slippery slide until he reached the top, then let himself glide with the arms threw into the air. He made a long enthusiast sound that lasted for all the slide, then stood up and repeated the game for three times. The fourth time, when he reached the top, he found Ichigo waiting for him and almost fell back for the surprise.

“Slide together?”

Jumoke was taken aback, but he nodded and let Ichigo adjust before sitting on his legs. The descent was slower, Ichigo was too big and his legs pressed against the side, working as brakes, yet the boy thought it was funnier than before.

“Again!”

“Okay, okay.” Ichigo ruffled his hair. “Again.”

They glided down until Jumoke spotted a mountain of empty cubes and poles fused to form a climbing game. He run without taking Ichigo’s hand, but, with a foot already on the first horizontal pole, waited for him to arrive.

Jumoke climbed inside the labyrinth of blue metal, aiming for the top. Ichigo gave him a concerned look, but the boy moved fast, he was almost leaping from side to side and pulled himself with his arms as if his body didn’t bear any weigh. When he reached the extreme top, he looked down and waved his hand. Ichigo waved back, his eyes fixed on the feet, scared that one could have slipped. However, Jumoke descended without any problem and Ichigo’s heartbeat returned to a normal rate when he jumped back on the soil.

Jumoke stood in front of him, looking as if he was waiting for something. Ichigo put a hand on his head and ruffled his hair.

“You are really good at this.”

He received a happy giggle.

“Now, do you want me to push you on the swing?”

There was no need to ask.

Grimmjow woke up surrounded by a delicious flavor that arrived directly to his new stomach. The reaction was immediate: a low grumble recalled that it was time to refill the belly and acquire new energies.

He sat down and glanced around. He couldn’t sense Jumoke’s reiatsu.

Isshin came out from the kitchen wearing a huge smile. He had on a pink apron with a white rabbit sewed on it.

“Good evening. You slept a lot.” Before Grimmjow could talk he added. “Ichigo brought Jumoke to the park. They’ll be back by any moment.”

Grimmjow wasn’t looking at him, but at the apron. Isshin noticed.

“Oh, do you like this? Rukia-chan made it, but Ichigo refuses to wear it. What a silly boy I have!”

He went back in the room and Grimmjow heard some noises. Isshin was busy preparing the table and when Grimmjow took a sit, he was putting the plates.

“The house is lively again. Since when my children all took their ways, I’ve been feeling alone.”

That didn’t seem to trigger anything for a conversation.

“So, how’s the pregnancy going?”

Grimmjow looked at Isshin, then at the plate in front of him.

“Without a hitch.”

“Any particular–“

“I’m fine, goddammit! Why are you all so interested on how I’m doing if I’m fine?”

“I can’t speak for Ichigo, since he’s not here, but I guess we share the same reason.” Isshin sat at the opposite side of him. “We care.”

“That’s wasted care. I can take care of me and the baby.”

“Humans are wasted efforts upon different matters. But that’s what makes life worth of being lived.”

“You’re a Shinigami.”

“Come on, don’t ruin my splendid throwback! And I’m technically a human now, you know?” Isshin sighed. “I won’t ask you why you decided to stay here, Grimmjow. But since you did, why don’t you let Ichigo participate?”

Grimmjow looked puzzled. “Participate in what?”

“The pregnancy.”

That didn’t clear up things and Grimmjow looked at Isshin as if he went nuts all of a sudden.

“Allow him to get closer.” Isshin tried to explain. “Make him part of it. Even if he’s technically already a part of it…” He nodded, visibly satisfied by his own realization. “But, of course, the final decision is up to you.”

It seemed like Isshin prepared that conversation in advance, as it ended in the exact moment the door opened. They heard Ichigo and Jumoke’s voices and a weight fell off Grimmjow’s chest.

“I’m hungry!” Jumoke stated.

“Me too, but first shoes off and wash our hands.”

“’kay!”

Jumoke scampered to the bathroom, then there was the noise of running water covered by their voices chatting, but it was almost impossible to understand what they were saying. When they came back, Ichigo was giving Jumoke a bright smile. Grimmjow didn’t recall he had ever seen that one on him. Not the cocky curve of lips he showed as a sign of his high-sounding idea of being capable of winning at every cost, or the relieved half-smile he gave to his just-rescued friends; it was gentle and caring, it gave to his features a different vibe, making them softer and more pleasant to look at.

Grimmjow shook his head and grinned at Jumoke, who went sitting next to him.

“Mama, I went to the park. With Ichigo.”

He declared as if that was a solemn announcement, but Ichigo was too busy at controlling the squirms of his stomach over the realization Jumoke had finally dropped the “san”.

“I know. Did you have fun?”

“I did.” He nodded. “Did you nap well?”

Grimmjow only ruffled his hair.

After dinner, Jumoke dragged Isshin on the couch to see the television, letting the aftermaths of the meal to his son. Ichigo had time to take the plates before he heard water running behind him: Grimmjow was doing the dishes.

“Grimmjow–“

“I won’t fall down just because I’m standing.”

Ichigo snorted. “That’s not what I meant. It’s my turn tonight.” He put the plates on the sink. “Let the others finish before speaking.”

“Thanks for the advice, Mister Patience.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Grimmjow kept washing as Ichigo brought the flatware.

“That you act all might and _I’m better than my opponent_ but then can’t stand a dialogue without snapping that it’s too long.”

“If you mean Ishida, that’s normal. He can’t keep it short.”

Ichigo stood next to him, rinsing what he was scrubbing.

“Your father, your sisters, that small Shinigami I punched a hole in once–“

“Okay, I got it! Not that patience is your forte. Who’s the one who run after Askin without waiting?”

“That was war.”

“And you were poisoned.”

“He poisoned you too.”

“I was worried for you.”

“Nobody asked you to.”

“Do you really want to have the last word so bad?!”

“Yes.”

Grimmjow smirked at Ichigo, receiving a grunt and a deep scowl.

“Well then.” He snorted. “How’s the pregnancy going?”

“Like yesterday and like it’ll go until few days before the baby will born.”

“Yesterday and today you slept all afternoon.”

“I’m bored here.”

Ichigo stared at the water falling from the tap, it was hypnotizing and he lost himself in contemplation while trying to gather the right words.

“Grimmjow…”

Grimmjow stopped rinsing, meaning he was listening.

“…may I touch your belly?”

A fork slipped and bounced with a high-pitched sound into the sink.

“What?”

Ichigo felt embarrassed because of the bewildered look he was given.

“Don’t make me repeat it!” He sighed. “I mean, I just want to feel it, a little. If the baby moves and… such…”

He focused on the foam on the dishes, but his ears were ready to grasp every sound. However, Ichigo only heard the laughs coming from the television and not a single word from Grimmjow.

“…but I guess it’s too early, even if the baby’s not properly human. It’s been barely a month.”

And he decided to stop there the conversation. He was glad Grimmjow didn’t feel the urge of taking the last word.

Something was touching his shoulder. Ichigo opened his eyes and wondered why he hadn’t noticed before the presence in his room. He wasn’t anymore used at sharing the room with someone since Kon felt good sleeping with Jumoke, who treated him better than Ichigo did – Kon never failed to remark it. That hand on his shoulder startled him more than he wanted to admit, even if he wasn’t feeling any threat directed at him.

He turned and saw Grimmjow’s serious face into the dim light of the room.

“Grimmjow…?” Ichigo sat down on the bed in a jolt, urged by a sudden worry. “Jumoke! He went to Seireitei again!”

“No. He’s sleeping with that stuffed lion.”

“Ah…” The relief erased the sudden tension and Ichigo almost fell back on the bed. “What’s wrong?”

He shifted aside as Grimmjow sat down next to him and grabbed his wrist. Ichigo flinched at the touch with the warm smooth skin; he run his fingers on the flat stomach, rubbing around the belly just with the tips, afraid of being too rude. Grimmjow pressed his entire hand on his belly.

“…uh, I can’t feel anything.”

“Did you expect a button-like reaction?”

Grimmjow leaned down on the bed. Ichigo heard a small groan and his arm twitched as he retreated it, but Grimmjow’s grip on his wrist tightened in a silent request of staying like that.

“It’s been three nights the baby’s moving around like crazy. If you wait a little, he should awaken soon.”

“He? Why are you so sure?”

“Because I feel it.”

Ichigo tried to catch something from Grimmjow’s face, but he had his eyes closed and looked he wanted to sleep. The bed was narrow for two people, but Ichigo leaned on his side, keeping his hand on Grimmjow’s belly.

They stayed still and silent, Grimmjow with the head slightly bended on a side, seeming to be asleep, Ichigo with his eyes half open. He moved the hand from time to time, when he felt like he was falling to the sleep’s temptation. But his eyelids were too heavy and his eyes hurt a bit. He closed them.

Then he felt a bump. In that same moment, Grimmjow held a groan between his lips.

“He moved.”

“Thanks for telling me, I didn’t know…”

The sleep was wiped away by the emotion that poured from Ichigo’s chest. He propped up on an elbow and massaged with care the spot where he felt the baby moving.

“I thought it was a bit too early and so my request was stupid…”

“It’s not a human. Well, just a tiny bit. But they grow faster.”

“Ah, it moved again!”

Grimmjow sighed with a hint of annoyance and leaned a hand on his belly. “Dammit, your brother didn’t move until the fifth month. Little troublemaker.”

Despite the frown, he looked happy. Ichigo would have never expected Grimmjow to make such a face, a little smile without malice or evil intentions. He was just happy.

“What’s wrong?”

When Grimmjow looked at him, Ichigo kissed him and his hand slipped on his groin. Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo from his shoulders in a clumsy hug, bringing him closer. Their lips parted in a wet smack and suddenly Grimmjow run his fingers through Ichigo’s hair, tracing the line of his temples to the cheeks and poked his lower lip. Ichigo pecked on Grimmjow’s mouth and crawled down, lowering his head between his legs.

Their eyes didn’t divert from each other’s even for a single instant.

_ Extra – The Mighty Soul Mod Castle _

Kon was told everything.

At first, he freaked out, then he accepted the new situation – mainly because he had no time to get used to it. He could still complain, but Ichigo had developed the fine art of ignoring him when his rants got too long and articulated, so that plan wouldn’t have gotten him nowhere. The other plan took into consideration staying all day long locked into Ichigo’s room. Unfortunately, he didn’t take into consideration how children could be unpredictable.

When he first met Jumoke, he was standing on the desk, his front paws on his hips and his legs stretched so that no one would have noticed he was trembling.

“Kid!” He yelled at the big brown eyes that were inspecting him with curiosity. “You are before the mighty mod soul Kon! I am the protector of this house and no Hollow ever took a single step here without succumbing to my wrath! You should feel lucky you are still walking on your own legs!”

Kon fixed his eyes on the boy, waiting for any reaction and ready to fly away in case he would have reacted like Ichigo used to.

“Thank you very much, Mighty Mod Soul Kon.” He made a small bow. “Thank you for letting me and mama in and for protecting Ichigo-san and his family.”

Those words felt like an arrow of love that pierced Kon’s heart. It was such a strong sensation, being appreciated and respected. A new episode in his life filled with abuses and people ignoring his presence. He twisted on himself as his body was incapable of bearing such emotions.

“Are you okay, Mighty Soul Mod Kon?”

“Just Kon is fine.” Kon managed to get back on his feet. “Since you seem to be a nice boy, you’ll be allowed to enter my castle!”

Jumoke was excited.

“A castle? Where?”

One hour later, when Grimmjow and Ichigo entered the room to check what Jumoke was doing, they found him inside a fort made of pillows, covers, stuffed toys and manga. It was built around the bed, which was the base.

Kon was reading a manga aloud on the lap of Jumoke, who was following the pictures with interest.

“Oi Kon, what’s this?”

“Oh, Ichigo! This is my castle and only children with a pure heart can stay her–hey! W-wait! What are you doing?!”

Grimmjow approached them and slipped into the fort, leaning on the bed.

“I have a child inside me. Are you suggesting my baby isn’t pure enough?”

His eyes didn’t leave Kon any room to go against him.

“O-of course not! You can stay!”

Grimmjow propped on his elbow and gave Ichigo a bored look.

“Kurosaki, bring something to eat.”

“What?!”

Jumoke raised his head, a hint of embarrassment on his face.

“Where can I go to have some water?”

Two against one was unfair. Ichigo crumbled down under Jumoke’s eyes.

“…I’ll bring something to drink and some snack.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The episode with Kon is the only extra. I really wanted to put it in here.  
> Grimmjow's starting to grow used to Ichigo, or else he would have awakened when he brought Jumoke outside (in other words: he trusts him when it comes to Jumoke).  
> From here on, titles will have little sense.


	5. Doppler Effect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The birth of the child is getting closer. And it seems like Grimmjow and Ichigo are getting distant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had some troubles with this chapter, especially in the interactions with Grimmjow and Ichigo in the first part. I'm not really convinced, but I decided to post it anyway. There's always some timeskip between a chapter and another, so many things that happened are told and not described.

Kurosaki had a wide range of expressions that diverged from the serious heroic look and smug smile he put on whenever he battled. He was tired, angry, sad, happy. All of his emotions mingled together and made his face a constant change of different reshapes of his features, making him more complex than Grimmjow wanted to witness. Because he became aware he spent too much time looking at Ichigo’s face to catch the expression that wasn’t a scoff or a serious -and dramatic- mix of a deep look and rigid mouth.

Ichigo smiled and laughed a lot. Sometimes his face was silly, he overreacted for useless things and made a ruckus over nothing. Grimmjow noticed that his face was more beautiful when he let himself go – but he would have rather chocked himself with his own hands than admitting it aloud. He grasped those moments when he saw him around Jumoke, as if Ichigo let all his guards down when he was with the boy. And Grimmjow wondered if he acted the same with his son.

It had been something more than five months since his arrival to the human world. Grimmjow accepted that Ichigo had talked to his friends about the whole situation, even if he refused to be present. He didn’t have enough patience to bear them all at once. For how he knew, the woman freaked out, the others too, but in a less dramatic way. And everyone wanted to see Jumoke. Grimmjow was reluctant, yet he let them be around his son one, maximum two, at a time. He trusted Ichigo, a bit his family, but not really his friends. Maybe only the woman who gave him back the left arm, but only because she had a kind heart to the point she was stupid.

Grimmjow didn’t even know at first why he accepted whatever passed on Ichigo’s mind. Especially the plan of staying in the human world during all the pregnancy, as he managed to take care of himself when he was waiting for Jumoke, so the new child wasn’t a big deal from his point of view. But for Ichigo everything was a big deal and he made a fuss when he discovered Grimmjow brought Jumoke on Hueco Mundo to train at least three times a week.

_ “What if you get hurt?” _

_ “You’re pregnant!” _

_ “Jumoke’s still too young!” _

_ “Lately you’ve become paler. There are only few more weeks before the birth!” _

_ “Dammit, Grimmjow! At least tell me! I’ll come with you!” _

Grimmjow hated his human way of judging his actions and hated how he couldn’t realize he didn’t want to settle forever into that fairy-tale-life that could have been better for Jumoke. Ichigo didn’t understand anything and he kept being angry at Grimmjow whenever he caught him coming back from Hueco Mundo.

That day, it was the same little scene again, as if both learnt a script.

“Again?” With time, Ichigo let the irritation behind, and a sort of bitter resignation took its place, as he became aware he couldn’t stop Grimmjow, yet his eyes were still full of disapproval. “Grimmjow, your body–“

“My body is fucking fine.” Grimmjow growled back. “I know it more than everyone else and I know how to behave without hurting the baby, if that’s what you are thinking.”

“I’m not–“

Grimmjow’s sharp look shut Ichigo’s mouth before he could go on. Ichigo snorted.

“What did you do today?”

Grimmjow sat down on the couch. He was still in his spiritual form and Ichigo was troubled at first when he saw the hole on his stomach covered by a thin yet impenetrable by eye layer of skin. Grimmjow’s belly wasn’t still as flat as before, but it didn’t float as it happened to human women’s either. It looked like he just gained a little weigh that concentrated on his abdomen in a slightly round and soft belly. But somewhere in there, a life was growing and about to bloom.

“Tried to train, but Jumoke’s friends showed up and they ended up playing.”

“It’s important for him to play.”

“He has to control his Cero. He can’t go around blowing up things as he pleases.”

“That sounds more like something you would do.”

“Want me to start with your head, huh?”

“As if I’ll let you blow my head up.”

“Oh right, you just let me blow your coc–ow!”

Grimmjow put a hand on his stomach and squeezed his eyes.

“Grimm–“

“He just kicked. Again.” He growled letting his head tilting back. “Dammit, he’s restless.”

“As restless as you are, maybe.”

“What do you mean? With Jumoke I always went around and didn’t feel one kick until the fifth month! This one went crazy from the beginning!”

“Not all children are the same.”

Grimmjow looked away from Ichigo, knowing he was about to throw another paternal tantrum. Ichigo could have overlooked that time, letting him behave as he wanted and just stuff inside him all he wanted to say. However, he bottled too much, he had been bottling for six whole months and he could count on the fingers of his hands the times he managed to have with him a conversation without his nerves being tingled because of his selfish attitude. He threw out his name with anger.

“Grimmjow, just listen for once!”

“I’m done listening to you! Kurosaki, you’re an earsore, always blabbering about the same things. Don’t you get tired of listening to your own voice?”

“And aren’t you tired of acting without thinking of the consequences?”

Ichigo realized he crossed the line only when he received a sharp glare. But he was too angered to bother whether he hurt Grimmjow or not and bore that look that could have pierced him from side to side. Grimmjow stood up in front of him and seemed more threatening as he stepped forward. Ichigo raised his chin and snorted.

“You should listen to other people more often!”

“You mean I should listen to _you_ , Kurosaki. You think I don’t care about my children.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You implied it.” Grimmjow chuckled, but the laugh was emptied of amusement and disappeared in a terrifying grimace. “You think I can’t take care of the children, don’t you?” His eyes were sending flames. “You think you’re always one step ahead the others and wallow in your gratification.”

Ichigo frowned. “You’ve gone nuts!”

“What you think or say it’s always the best thing and you never give room for the others. I’ve spent the last months going to and fro from Hueco Mundo. Nor Jumoke nor the baby have a single scratch and all you always say is how this is dangerous! Fuck you, Kurosaki! Go trust your fucking pride then!”

“Who’s talking about pride! You’re too stubborn to realize that not always your way is the best for those around you!”

“Oh, and yours would be the best, wouldn’t it?”

Grimmjow’s hands twitched. He wanted to punch Ichigo in the face, wiping off from that features his cocky serious look and making him bleed until he wouldn’t have had a face with an expression on it anymore. But he was a human in that moment and Grimmjow didn’t want to attack him when he was so weak. Nor he wanted to stay around him anymore. He just wanted to calm down, push himself inside that uncomfortable human body and come back to punch Ichigo.

Ichigo still had that half sad frown that to Grimmjow expressed all the pity he was feeling towards him. Grimmjow turned his back and wondered if he shouldn’t have just gone back to Hueco Mundo, since all he was doing with Ichigo was arguing and fucking when the time was good.

“Grimmjow–“

“Fuck o–ugh!”

“Grimmjow! You are pale, just–“

“Fuck off!” Grimmjow slapped away the hand ready to help. “The baby’s fine! That’s what matters to you, right?”

“What?”

Ichigo walked after him.

“I’m just gonna take my gigai! Stop following me around!”

“I don’t even know why the hell you decided to stay here!”

He didn’t even try to hide the exasperation into his voice. Ichigo blurted out what he thought and a second later his mind was cleared enough to make him realize Grimmjow would have never replied.

“Because safety is a comfort you take for granted here, but not in Hueco Mundo, you dickhead!”

That’s why, he looked at him in astonishment when he stopped on the stairs he was climbing and shouted back.

Ichigo didn’t manage to find the right words to reply and waited with his mouth ready but the wrong words on the tip of his tongue. Then Grimmjow bended in a half, holding his stomach with the same painful expression after being hit by a strong shot.

“Grimmjow!“

“Ah, goddammit…”

His voice was a low mutter, yet Ichigo clearly heard his voice breaking in a feeble shake. The handrail was cracking under the clench of Grimmjow’s left hand, his knuckles white for the effort. He bended a bit forward and Ichigo held him from his shoulders.

“Grimmjow?”

He looked surprised. With his right hand, Grimmjow was tasting his belly and when he jolted with a moan of pain, Ichigo held him tighter.

“This… is unexpected.”

His breath was getting heavier.

“Let’s go to the clinic, I’ll check you.”

“There’s nothing to check.” Grimmjow spoke with calm and that freaked Ichigo out more than both wanted. “I think he’s coming out.”

“What?! He’s early! He can’t!”

“It’s not like you’re the one deciding here.” Grimmjow clenched his teeth. “This is too sudden.”

Ichigo was fast and caught Grimmjow before he landed on his knees. He was bearing the dead weight of the man and tried to make it easier pulling his body on his back.

“I’m bringing you to the clinic now.”

“Don’t panic, Kurosaki.”

Grimmjow’s head fell over his right shoulder. It was like all of his energies were sucked away from him in an instant and his voice was so calm only because he hadn’t enough strength to raise the tone.

“I’m not. I’m ready for this.”

“No. I am. You’re not. You’re as pale as that fucker Ulquiorra.”

“You can’t even stand on your feet!”

“You’re sweating.”

“Are we playing at who’s feeling worse?!”

“I guess… it’s an easy win for me this time… with Jumoke it happened gradually. This little one is a pain in the ass like you.”

Ichigo was almost sure Grimmjow’s chuckle was amused. But he was too nervous and couldn’t focus on a single little thing without figuring the whole picture.

“I’m bringing you to the clinic.” He repeated

“A room’s fine. I’ll do it on my own…”

“Grimmjow–“

“Ichigo.”

Grimmjow rarely used his name and Ichigo was sure he did only when he wanted to get his attention. It always worked and Ichigo cursed himself for that little weakness.

“Just trust me. I know what to do…” His voice was weakening. “…if I need help, I’ll call.”

“I hardly believe that.”

“That I’ll manage to?”

“That you’ll call me.”

Grimmjow squirmed, his fingers painfully sank onto Ichigo’s arms.

“I trust you, Grimmjow. But let me be in.” Ichigo heard Grimmjow’s growl. “I want to be there. And see.”

“…whatever. You’re stubborn.”

“You’re the one talking.”

When Grimmjow opened his eyes, he saw darkness. A far drumming noise lulled his senses, dragging his already tired conscience deep down in the maze of sleep. But there was a heavy weight on his right arm and the crawl inside his muscles was the light inside the somber idleness trapping him.

His head dangled on side. Jumoke was sleeping on half of his body, a hand holding onto the pajama someone put on him -because Grimmjow recalled he had other clothes before he fainted- and his mouth wide open. Grimmjow wasn’t uncomfortable, but that position wasn’t either comfortable. Yet, he didn’t move and turned the head to the other side, feeling a bit of relief at the base of the neck.

The feeble light from outside enlightened the drops of rain tapping on the glass and produced on the floor, right at the feet of the bed, a bright rectangle. Wrapped into that thin light, Ichigo was sleeping on a cot with a white bundle of cloth held tight on his arms. Then he turned his head and Grimmjow realized he was awaken.

“Hey, Grimmjow.”

Grimmjow didn’t reply. He slept, but was tired. He felt like someone carved inside the stomach he actually didn’t have – and _that_ happened, his son burst out of him and  Grimmjow lost consciousness among Ichigo’s worried expression, the certainty the attitude of the whole Kurosaki family was scaring the shit out of Jumoke, his consequent anger towards them and a lot of blood. Those were a ton of things for a single moment before he passed out.

Ichigo stood up. He didn’t rush, his movements were careful and he was holding the bundle as if he was afraid he could have broken it unless he hadn’t paid enough attention. Grimmjow knew what was wrapped inside that soft ball of cotton even before Ichigo moved and sat on the bed next to him.

Grimmjow retreated his arm from under Jumoke’s head and the boy released his clothes, turning around on the other side without any sound except from the rustle of the blankets. He dragged himself to lean his back against the bedside and Ichigo gave him the bundle.

It was lighter than Grimmjow expected. The cloth was really as soft as it seemed and inside its creases, his son was sleeping all wrinkly and munching on his right hand into his sleep. A thin lock of clear hair stood out on his little head; definitely not blue. The mask was just a tiny piece covering his left temple and running over the ear, but the tiny horn was visible even into the dark.

“He kept waking up whenever I put it on the cradle, so…”

Ichigo made a vague nod with the head. Despite the scarce light and his senses weakened, Grimmjow could see how he was worn off.

“Well, he’s been a pain before his birth too.”

Ichigo heard a chuckle coming from Grimmjow and glanced at him as he bended his head down. He couldn’t see it well, but he was sure his lips brushed against the child’s head in a delicate kiss.

“What’s his name?”

That question left Ichigo speechless.

“What?”

“Do you want to call him baby for the rest of his life or what?”

It seemed like he was the dumb one in need of explanations for something so logic. But Ichigo couldn’t see any logic behind it.

“Why me?”

“I named Jumoke. And I’ll name this one too since you don’t seem interested.”

“I am interested.” Ichigo objected. “But you’ll go back to Hueco Mundo, what’s the point in that?”

“If you put it like that, you won’t do anything at all then.”

Grimmjow didn’t deny nor affirm what he had said. Ichigo looked at him covering Jumoke’s shoulders with the blanket.

“When you said safety is a comfort…”

He didn’t continue and hoped for Grimmjow to take over from his last words.

“I meant it. Hueco Mundo’s getting better but at a slow pace. I was forced to ask Tier for protection for Jumoke for a while and…” His eyes darted down on the baby sleeping in his arms. “…I risked a lot today.”

“Yesterday.”

“Whatever! A stick in the ass is better than you.”

“Okay, sorry.” Ichigo looked at him until Grimmjow raised his head and exchanged his gaze. “What if you were in Hueco Mundo when it happened? I was right.”

“Do you want me to agree? Well, I–”

“That would be the minimum.”

Grimmjow widened his eyes at the sudden interruption.

“Never. Even if that would erase from your face that smug expression.”

“You could put your pride aside for a while!”

“Said mister _I-can-beat-all-the- Quincies-by-myself_!” Grimmjow snorted. “I was going to agree if you just shut your mouth up instead of acting so cool and cocky, idiot.”

“Dumbass!”

“You don’t listen to the others often, do you?”

Despite Grimmjow’s desire of a verbal quarrel with Ichigo, his mind and body weren’t keeping up the pace of his heart – if he still had one somewhere inside him. He relaxed against the bedside and looked at the ceiling.

“I hate this.”

“What?”

“All of this. When I’m here, I’m too relaxed. If I were in Hueco Mundo, probably I would have sensed his birth. The more I stay here, the more I feel like a dulled blade.”

Ichigo believed he was starting to have a slight clearer vision of Grimmjow. Not everything, but a tiny part and that was enough. He was a parent caring for his children, but also a warrior striving for his life every day. A difficult combination that didn’t balance between his needs and those of the children. Ichigo felt a raising guilt inside him.

“You accepted to stay here so the baby would have been fine.”

“Jumoke too. I told you, safety is a luxury in Hueco Mundo.”

“I see… Grimmjow.”

“What now?”

“Have you ever thought about aborting?”

“Yes.”

The reply was sudden and cut every possibility Ichigo was building into his mind to continue the conversation. There was no need to ask why, he could guess the reason and he didn’t feel like blaming him.

“I tried to shove into fights, but all the remaining arrancars aren’t so good. I also had a quarrel with Nel, but I broke her bracelet by accident and it ended before we could even evoke the Resurrection form.”

“I see why she burst into my room as a child again…” It happened few weeks after the end of the Quincy war.

“Then I stabbed myself.”

Ichigo twitched and the covers rustled at the movements of his legs.

“Yes, I tried.” Grimmjow affirmed without any feeling coming out from his voice. “But he was still inside, alive and healthy when the wound healed. I let him live, too stubborn to die. He deserved to live.” Silence. “I’m glad I did.”

“I’m glad too.”

“Of course you are. It’s in your character.”

“Character? Who am I? The main character of a shounen manga?”

“If they were to make a story about you, it’d be so boring that everyone would drop it after few pages.”

“Tsk…”

Ichigo crossed his arms. He was tired, the silence was calming and the noise of the rain sounded like a lullaby. He slid down on the bed and never felt a pillow under his head so comfortable.

“I… accepted it. You’ll go away, eventually.”

Grimmjow didn’t reply. “What’s the name, then?” He asked instead.

“Haruki.”

“Haru…? Spring?”

“No. Sun. His name means living sun.”

“…you’ve been preparing this for six months, haven’t you?”

“Yup.”

“Shinigami are always so flashy.”

“I won’t talk so big. Jumoke means loved by everyone.” Ichigo bore the perplexed frown he received. “I did my researches.”

“I didn’t know it meant that. I just liked the sound.”

“And where did you hear that?”

Grimmjow shrugged. “I just recalled it. Who knows, maybe I heard it when I was a human.”

He glanced down at the baby, still with his tiny punch into his mouth. His almost invisible eyebrows were wrinkled in a bothered expression, as if he was dreaming of something not very pleasant, but not strong enough to wake him up.

“Then, Haruki.”

Ichigo was scared. He knew what scared him, but had no clue on how he could overcome his fears.

Haruki was so small and looked so harmless. In comparison, he was too big and felt less nervous when using instruments in the clinic worth one month of what his father gained.

He was envious of how Grimmjow had a carefree attitude, holding Haruki, making him eat and sleep without a single flinch and showing a natural and unexpected attitude at parenting. Ichigo was on edge and it seemed like someone wrenched his guts when he held his son. And it looked like Haruki felt his stress. He never cried, but frowned the eyebrows and he suddenly looked like a small copy of Grimmjow with a lock of orange hair, despite being so small.

“He’s growing faster than normal children.”

Isshin was overjoyed and always eager to take care of his nephew. Haruki didn’t frown into his arms, he had no mean as Isshin took him and guided his small head against his arm making it all look like the most natural thing in the world. But when it came to Ichigo, that didn’t appear natural at all.

“I guess it’s the hollow side…” Ichigo scratched his head. “It’s been a week and he’s already back in Hueco Mundo.”

“It would have been difficult taking Jumoke’s friends here.”

“Yes, I know…”

Ichigo observed his son, calm and quiet into his father’s arms, with his tiny eyes fixed on Isshin’s face in a silent and puzzled inspection. And, in an instant, Haruki was into his arms.

“W-what?!”

“Don’t stiffen.” Isshin slapped both hands on Ichigo’s shoulders from behind. “Is this a mechanical reaction? You’re an adult strong man, more than enough to be a pillar for your child! Don’t be afraid!”

“Who’s afraid?!”

But Ichigo read the answer on Haruki’s face. His eyebrows took Grimmjow’s usual angle, half of his eyes disappeared under the eyelids, his lips clamped in a thin line and all of Ichigo’s self-confidence disappeared under that accusing glare.

“What are you afraid of, Ichigo?”

“Nothing! But… I mean, he’s so small, what if… you know.”

“Drop him?”

“No!”

“When you were born, the first time I took you I was afraid of dropping you.”

“Don’t tell it as if it’s a normal thing!”

“Well, actually it is normal.”

“It is not!”

A third voice stepped in between them.

“What’s normal?”

Jumoke run into the bedroom appointed for Grimmjow and crawled onto the bed to Ichigo and Isshin.

“What are you two doing here?”

Grimmjow snarled at them, showing a clear hint of annoyance.

“Oh, you’re back!” Isshin stood up and patted his right shoulder. “I fed the baby and now I’ll go prepare something for us. Jumoke, do you want to help?”

“Yes!”

Jumoke threw both arms around Isshin’s neck right before the man stood up fast, letting the child speechless for an instant before laughing. Ichigo heard their chat blurring as they descended the stairs.

“Why that face?”

Ichigo believed at first that Grimmjow was talking with him, as he sat so close their legs touched. Then he realized he was poking Haruki’s forehead.

“He always makes this face when you take him.”

That was a statement. Ichigo agreed with it, but his tone of voice, which wasn’t accusing of anything, just pointing out a simple fact, hurt him more than he expected.

“It looks like you’re holding a bomb with a stick up your ass. No surprise Haruki’s sulking.”

“Then you keep him, since you’re so good!”

Ichigo snorted before he could recollect his calm and common sense. Grimmjow gave him a strange look, as if he was looking at an idiot.

“You’re always rigid. Even when you fight, always sticking to the same poses and shit.”

Grimmjow shifted behind him. Ichigo saw his legs at his sides and felt the pressure of his whole body on his back. The hands glided down his arms, from the elbows to the hands, and the fingers tapped on his.

“Relax this fucking back and hold him a bit higher. He doesn’t like staying down. Like this.”

Ichigo let him guide his body, but still couldn’t get rid of the stiffness inside his muscles. Haruki’s head tilted on his shoulder, near his neck and fidgeted his feet as Grimmjow pushed Ichigo’s arms between the child’s legs to hold him better.

“Like this. It’s not difficult, for god’s sake.”

“There’s no need to be this rude.”

“There’s no need to be this salty.”

Grimmjow brushed his lips against his neck. Soft and wet. Ichigo felt a bizarre sensation of void inside the stomach as a shiver spread on his skin of his arms.

“What’s this?”

“Making you relax a bit.”

Grimmjow muttered among the tiny smacks. When he kissed behind Ichigo’s ear, he jolted into his arms.

“This is not working, Grimmjow.”

“What a pain in the ass, really…”

“Hey!”

“Am I right? Haruki?”

Ichigo looked down. Grimmjow’s hand was gentle on Haruki’s head. Probably it was only his impression but, even when Grimmjow’s touch disappeared, the expression on Haruki’s face softened a bit. Ichigo held his breath as Haruki’s eyes stopped on him and his little mouth opened without a sound escaping from it. He raised him enough to lay a kiss on his forehead.

Isshin flinched when he heard a touch on his shoulder. It had been a long time since someone crawled into his bed at night to find comfort and the last one was Yuzu, who stopped doing that when she finished Elementary schools. He realized who awakened him even before clicking the button of the nightlamp. When the light turned on, he exchanged Jumoke’s sad look.

“Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Isshin grandpapa…”

Jumoke dropped the “mister” in few time, but he still was used to call Isshin by his first name and remembered later that he could call him grandpapa without any problem. And Isshin found that too adorable. However, in that moment he was too worried for the dismal expression taunting his face to feel purified and refreshed by that innocent mistake.

Jumoke was sitting near him and didn’t show sign of throwing himself to receive a hug. He took a deep breath.

“I think… I don’t like my brother.”

Jumoke lowered his eyes. He was scared to see what would have been Isshin’s reaction. Everybody in the house loved Haruki. Karin and Yuzu too were so happy about the newborn and also his mother was busy in taking care of the baby. But Jumoke always felt bad when he looked at Haruki.

“Is that so?”

Isshin’s voice was calm and Jumoke raised his head. He didn’t seem angry, but he wasn’t smiling either. Isshin sat down on the bed and patted the hand right next to him. Jumoke went sitting near him and shifted closer as Isshin put an arm around his shoulders.

“Tell me more, would you?”

Jumoke was reassured.

“I don’t really like him… because mama felt sick when he was born. But since I was born from mama too, maybe I hurt mama too and I am bad…”

Jumoke sometimes pronounced vowels longer than needed, especially when he felt involved in what he was saying. He said _bad_ with his mouth wide open and looked like he really believed it. His eyebrows were bended in a sad expression, his eyes were teary and ready to burst.

Isshin hugged him.

“My little boy. None of you hurt your mama. Pregnancy is natural, but some natural things hurt.”

“Like drinking hot chocolate to refill your belly?”

“Exactly like that! Your mama was strong enough to give birth to you and your brother. Don’t ever think you or Haruki hurt him and that you are bad. Because you are not.”

Jumoke leaned his head against Isshin’s chest and sighed.

“But I don’t know if I like him.”

“A little jealousy is normal.”

“It’s not that.” Jumoke looked up, showing a tiny pout that made Isshin’s soul melt. “Haruki always munches my neck when he’s close to me! But I don’t want to be eaten!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spot the exact moment when Haruki got the habit of munching other people's necks.
> 
> This chapter is the first part of Grimmjow and Ichigo having difficulties in communication. Ichigo believes one thing, Grimmjow isn't sure of what he wants and both are idiots.
> 
> I'm quite proud of the title, since, somehow, it makes sense.


	6. What it takes to be a family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grimmjow and Ichigo keep arguing, until both realize that they're arguing over nothing, since everything has already happened before their eyes and they're already living what they probably were avoiding. Or looking for.

A month after his birth, Haruki switched night and day. It happened without any warning, sign or any event that could have kept him awaken at night. One day he took his hours of sleep as usual and the following night didn’t close his eyes for five hours straight. He cried into the cradle and kicked Grimmjow and Jumoke on their back and hips.

After the first week, when Jumoke spent most of the days recovering his sleep on the bed with his brother, Ichigo blurted out a casual response, being aware of his words only after he uttered them.

“Then let’s sleep together.”

Grimmjow’s eyelids were heavy -the eyelids of the gigai\- and, after that night, he realized that having a strong soul inside a healthy body was a real thing, not just a stupid common saying. That morning none of the two was in shape. However, he absorbed the words and replied with a silent look. Ichigo couldn’t detect what was the answer behind that.

“Forget it. It was a dumb idea.”

“Sleep together?”

“So Jumoke can get some sleep.”

Grimmjow drank all the bitter coffee into the mug. He gulped it down in small sips, showing a clear expression of disgust as he bore the liquid sliding down his throat.

“If you dislike it this much, don’t drink it, Grimmjow.”

“This dishwater helps staying awake.”

“And drilling a hole into your stomach as well.”

“If Jumoke agrees, it’s okay.”

Ichigo was taken aback by that sudden change of topic.

“Sleeping together.”

“Fine.”

Grimmjow didn’t look at him. He was observing the biscuits on the table, contemplating which one looked the tastier and which one he should have picked first. Ichigo sat down on the chair in front of him.

“You… don’t like the idea, do you?”

“Uh?”

“You don’t like the idea of sleeping with me.”

“The fuck are you saying?”

“That you are doing this for the sake of the children.”

“We have sex regularly. What part of this am I missing?”

Under the influence of sleep, Grimmjow had difficulties in keeping track with Ichigo’s trail and couldn’t find the beginning of his reasoning nor the logic behind it. Ichigo had his mouth already open, Grimmjow blocked his comeback.

“Just, shut up! We-have-sex. What’s wrong with sharing a bed? Is this a shitty cultural things of yours or–“

“Nothing.” Ichigo put both hands on the table and stood up. “Nothing, just…” He made a gesture with the right hand as if he was shooing something invisible. “I mean, you’ll go back to Hueco Mundo, right?”

“With the children.”

A heavy silence fell over them. Grimmjow didn’t make an affirmation, it sounded more like an insinuation.

“I–“

“You meant that, Kurosaki. Don’t make that face. It’s all about the children, it’s always been about the children. Don’t deny it!”

“What do you mean?”

“I could go back to Hueco Mundo right now alone and not coming back. You wouldn’t follow me!”

“Why?”

“I don’t know! Why should I?” Grimmjow stood up. “Exactly, if it weren’t for Jumoke, would you have moved your ass to come and find me?”

“And did you move yours?”

They looked at each other with a thin silence surrounding them. Both were tense, ready to counterattack with words, but neither of them wanted to make the first step without a sign from the other one.

Sleep deprivation won over Grimmjow and he snorted.

“Just go to your infirmary.”

As he was about to turn back his body, Ichigo grabbed his elbow and tugged him back, receiving a threatening gaze that wasn’t enough to scratch his tenacious resolution.

“Fuck you, Grimmjow! I don’t know what you want to do! I’m always on the edge because I never know if I’ll wake up and find you and the children!”

“As if I’d disappear like that!”

“But you’ll disappear!”

“And who told you that?!”

“Nobody! I don’t know anything because you never say anything!”

“I’ve already told you we can’t pretend to be a lovely family! You’re a shinigami and I’m a hollow!”

“That means nothing! You are the one who told me you don’t care about opponents being shinigami, humans, hollows or whatever I was back then! What’s so different now?!”

Grimmjow hesitated more than he wanted. Just a second of silence and he felt like he lost that battle. He had no more shields or bullets that could keep the pace with Ichigo. He recalled the impotence he felt the very moment before Ichigo’s sword slashed on him. Deep inside that human replica of his figure, the scar on his soul hurt.

“Everything’s different, Kurosaki! Don’t– ah, you won’t understand.”

“What?! Just try me, dammit!”

“You’re dumb!”

“Since I’m so dumb, I need you to tell me, asshole!”

Grimmjow had already a comeback rolling off his tongue, but a sudden flicker of a familiar reiatsu froze the words inside his mouth. He turned to meet with Jumoke’s scared eyes. He was standing right at the entrance of the kitchen, his feet naked and a pajama a bit too big for him that made him look thinner than he was. And the tears into his eyes plus the saddened expression made him seem defenseless.

Grimmjow hold him into his arms and Jumoke held onto his clothes in desperation, his face sinking on his chest. He was shocked but still, without a single shiver shaking his body and his muscles all stiff.

“Jumoke, don’t be afraid.” Grimmjow touched his hair. “We were just talking. Just…”

His eyes looked for Ichigo, he looked for an answer from him and his higher capability of dealing with human emotions – since his fossilized somewhere into his hollowification. But Ichigo looked too guilty and too lost to give a hand and Grimmjow clenched his teeth.

“We were just talking.”

But Jumoke didn’t say anything.

When Jumoke closed his eyes under the covers, Haruki opened his. It seemed like he had a sensor connected to his brother and woke up as soon as Jumoke fell asleep. Haruki didn’t cry much, not as much as Jumoke did, but his big eyes were wide open and he fidgeted his legs and arms as something interesting caught his attention. Unfortunately, it seemed like he could see pretty well into the darkness and everything was of enough interest for him, as he never stayed still when awake, giving troubles to whoever was holding him.

Grimmjow walked around the room, from the door to the window and back again. When he gave only a hint of stopping, Haruki jerked his head back, arching the whole body; that became the sign he wanted to move more and Grimmjow went on with his slow stroll. He could have gone to Hueco Mundo, or just in Karakura, but he didn’t want to leave Jumoke alone in the bed. Grimmjow only exited the bedroom and descended the stairs. As he hesitated in the choice of taking left or right, Haruki gave out a small wail, raising his fidgeting arms into the air.

“Aren’t you too spoiled?”

Grimmjow leaned Haruki against his shoulder and felt his tiny mouth chomping on his neck without really biting.

“What a bad habit you got there.”

“I wonder where he got it.”

Even if the house was completely silent, Grimmjow noticed Ichigo only when he spoke. Or his senses were getting duller, or he was growing accustomed to Ichigo’s presence. The latter was the hypothesis that scared Grimmjow the most.

“What are you doing here?”

“Chocolate.” He showed the mug. “He needs a walk, doesn’t he?”

“He needs to start sleeping during the night.”

“I’ll take him.” Ichigo held out the mug. “Come on.”

Grimmjow gazed at the mug and took it with his free hand. The clumsiness Ichigo had around Haruki still guided his movements, he was rigid and careful, but he didn’t freeze on the spot nor acted with the fear of hurting the child whatever he could have done.

Haruki realized who was holding him. He giggled and threw the head against Ichigo’s shoulder, munching down on his neck.

“Oookay, you’re hungry?”

Ichigo went to the kitchen. Grimmjow went back to the bedroom and sat down next to Jumoke, curled against the pillow squeezed into his arms. When Ichigo reached the bedroom, he had a baby bottle filled to the brim with warm milk.

“He’s not hungry.” He announced.

Haruki looked towards the bed and suddenly tended both hands out. Ichigo was about to give him to Grimmjow, but Haruki jerked to Jumoke and Grimmjow grabbed him from the scruff of his pajama to put him face down on the bed.

Ichigo hold his breath. If he acted towards the children with care, especially Haruki, Grimmjow didn’t change his harsh attitude, nor tried to behave with kindness. However, there was affection in the vigorous ruffles he gave to Jumoke or the ways he grabbed Haruki by the back collar of his clothes.

Haruki stayed still for a handful of seconds. Then he started moving his arms and legs, tilting from side to side without being able to roll on himself. He emitted an annoyed screech and Grimmjow took him on his legs. Haruki was fast to spot where Jumoke was, but Grimmjow held him against his stomach.

“He wants to stay with Jumoke. But the other night he woke him up.”

Haruki moaned in frustration and bit the cloth of Grimmjow’s t-shirt without any intention of letting it go. He gnarled as he looked up with a frown that was the same copy of his mother’s.

“You can bite all night.”

At that answer, Haruki, who felt Grimmjow’s intentions, smacked his head on his chest.

“He’s got your attitude.”

Ichigo went to the other side of the bed. Between him and Grimmjow there was Jumoke.

“I’d say he’s got yours.”

“Really… you drank all the chocolate.” Ichigo put the mug back on the bedtable.

“You never said I couldn’t.”

Grimmjow read Ichigo’s intentions as he raised both hands towards him and gave him the baby. Haruki turned his head to Ichigo and was fast at throwing his face against his shoulder. Ichigo felt the clamp of his gums hard from the teeth pressing to come out.

Ichigo leaned down on the bed, under the duvet, one hand holding Haruki from his legs, the other massaging his head. Haruki jabbered as he was munching down on his skin with continuous bites; his tiny hands were clamping on his t-shirt.

“You angered him.”

He turned his head and saw Grimmjow covering himself with the patterned duvet. He pushed Jumoke a towards Ichigo to have more space; the boy rolled into his sleep, stopping against Ichigo’s hip, his head pressed near the shoulder. Haruki raised his head, looking around as if he felt something was different. When his eyes fell on Jumoke, an excited sparkle made them shine and he giggled, tending both hands to his brother. Ichigo felt Haruki throwing himself towards Jumoke, but was fast enough to catch him and place him back on his chest. A tiny shriek of frustration accompanied the dramatic fall of his head on his father’s chest, with the face sinking on the cloth.

“I pray he won’t develop a taste for drama like my father.”

Grimmjow turned on his side. Despite Jumoke being in the exact middle of the bed, he felt cramped in that little space left. “Are you sleeping here tonight?”

“Why not? The bed’s big enough.”

“What’s your concept of big?”

“Jumoke doesn’t spread much.”

But Grimmjow did. He needed space to extend his legs and arms, to move according to his physical needs and not to avoid falling down because his son put himself in a diagonal position and menaced to push him down. However, he didn’t say anything and stared at Ichigo. When Ichigo stared back, he snorted.

“Don’t snore.”

“Who knows? We never slept together. You always left.”

“So what?”

Ichigo tried to catch something from his bored expression, but he wasn’t that good at reading people. He couldn’t read anyone, he didn’t manage with Renji at their first encounter, with Byakuya; he didn’t manage to read Ulquiorra until the very end and nor he managed with Ginjou, when he was supposed to have a bit more experience.

“I wanted to sleep together.”

He was tired. He admitted it.

“You could have said it.”

“I didn’t want to force you into it. If we slept together… it would have felt like being close. And we aren’t.”

Grimmjow didn’t reply. He waited, his sight wandered on the ceiling as if he was looking for a way to keep on with that conversation.

“We aren’t.”

He agreed. And stayed silent.

Ichigo’s most stupid part believed he would have said something more, that Grimmjow would have added a tiny _but_ somewhere. But his hopes were crushed by the silence between them. Too still, too devoid of any sound. Then  Ichigo realized.

“Haruki’s asleep.”

“Well, it was fucking time…” Grimmjow made a satisfied groan. “…don’t you dare move him. If he awakens, I’ll blast your head.”

“Cero isn’t a solution to all the problems.”

“It’s obvious you’ve never used it enough.”

Ichigo didn’t want to know what past events were hiding behind that sentence.

“Not that a cero is needed here.” Grimmjow went on. “This place’s so safe it bores me to death.”

“Excuse me if we don’t raise wild hollows to entertain you.”

“There’s plenty of them in Hueco Mundo. Here, it better remains as it is.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know if I want to stay here or go back. I’ll be where the children need. And now they need a safe space.”

“That’s a… strange talk.”

“Because it’s me?”

“Well, yes.”

“You’re a dick.”

“What a news. You always tell me, Grimmjow.”

“Tonight, more than usual.”

Ichigo turned slightly enough to be more comfortable looking at Grimmjow and when Haruki made a long deep sigh, he froze on the spot under the fear of his awakening. But the child just turned his head on the other side and, after a smaller sigh, didn’t move anymore.

“Do you want to stay with me?”

“I can’t stand you, Kurosaki!”

The reply was so immediate that it hurt. However, Grimmjow didn’t let Ichigo talk back.

“But you don’t repel me. And it’s freaking infuriating, because sometimes you’re almost acceptable.”

“I’m not sure if I’m annoyed or pleased…”

“I want to punch you in the guts whenever I look at your face.”

“Definitely annoyed.”

Grimmjow closed his eyes. “I don’t get it.” How was strange, a night without Haruki’s voice blabbering in a language only he could understand, without walking around the room and trying to put him to sleep, without standing by the window and counting the stars when they weren’t covered by the dark clouds. The embrace of the bed was comfortable and the pillow so soft that Grimmjow felt like his head was sinking down and down through the fluffy texture, inside it.

He opened his eyes for an instant and saw Ichigo’s head tilted towards him, with Haruki’s tiny head popping out from the duvet. Grimmjow pulled his right hand out of the warmth under the cover and tended it, sure that he was aiming for Haruki’s head. But when he pressed his fingers against Ichigo’s cheek, he was too tired to pull the arm back.

What awakened them were angered continuous wails.

The first one who opened his eyes was Ichigo, mostly because Haruki was tugging at his hair showing an unusual energy for such a small child. Then Grimmjow growled and muttered something between his teeth as Jumoke complained and tried to hide his head under the pillow.

When everyone was completely awake, Haruki deemed himself satisfied. He stopped crying -without tears- and munched down on Ichigo’s chest, sucking the cloth as if he believed something would have come out from there.

Ichigo turned his head to the clock. “It’s five…” He looked at Grimmjow, but he had closed his eyes again, with Jumoke curled against his chest. So Ichigo got up.

“I got it. Breakfast time.”

Haruki was barely one-month old, but he had already grasped the way the world revolved around him. When someone put him into the highchair, it meant some food was going to arrive and he didn’t need to cry anymore to get the attention he wanted. Instead, he blabbered. Only he knew what he was saying, but he chatted muttering sounds that had no sense to the others.

That was a pleasant company, Ichigo thought as he warmed the milk.

“Your breakfast’s on its way. Happy?”

Haruki kept making sounds and clapped his hands when Ichigo sat down in front of him.

“Early to sleep and early to wake… but you’re not early to sleep.”

Haruki grabbed Ichigo’s index and put it inside his mouth.

“Tasty?”

Ichigo giggled. Right after, Grimmjow walked into the kitchen looking like someone who was forced to get up. Ichigo gave him a puzzled glance and he growled.

“Headbutt in his sleep.” He just said massaging his chin. “Milk’s ready?”

“I guess.”

Grimmjow took the bottle and checked the temperature on his arm. That was something he had already embodied in his gestures, there was no hesitation when he took Haruki or gave him the milk. Even if it was Haruki who grabbed the hand and desperately pushed the baby bottle teat inside his mouth, drinking as if he hadn’t been eating for days.

Ichigo looked at them and thought it was so normal that Grimmjow was feeding their baby. It would have been normal for him getting closer, staying near him, touching, talking. It would have been, but it wasn’t for them.

“I can’t stand it anymore.”

He didn’t know if it was his brain or the drowsiness of the morning, but Ichigo spoke his mind without thinking. Grimmjow looked at him, waiting for more.

“If you say we can’t be a family, then why don’t you go away? You’re more capable than me at taking care of the children. You don’t need to stay here.”

“I know.”

Ichigo shook his head. “You don’t care about me, I got it.”

“I’m growing accustomed to all this.”

“To what?”

“Everything. The children, this life, you… I don’t like it. It feels like being still.”

Into the silence, the only noise was the splashing of the milk as Haruki sucked it.

“You’re an idiot.”

Ichigo spoke with such a genuine sincerity, that Grimmjow was astonished and didn’t manage to have an immediate reaction at his words.

“What?!”

“You-are-an-idiot. Idiooooo–t.” Ichigo repeated with a slight frown. “What’s wrong with living without troubles trying to kill you, once in a while?”

“Kurosaki, you list–“

“No! You listen! I’m done with your _Kurosaki_ and all the other stuff! You were almost better when you wanted to kill me! At least I knew what you wanted!”

“I have no problems switching back if it helps shutting down your shitty mouth!”

All of a sudden , Haruki’s voice stepped in between them. He wasn’t crying, nor screaming. He was talking. Aloud. He raised his voice to be louder than theirs, until both stopped talking and the child’s voice was the only one modulating one repeated meaningless word.

“Ba ba baaaa! Baaaaa! Ba ba! Baaaaa!”

Then, he grabbed again the baby bottle teat, munching as he drank what remained of his milk.

“You’re an idiot.” Grimmjow stated.

“You are.” Was the sincere reply. “Maybe we both are. We’ve skipped directly to the argues before the divorce.”

“You mean that thing when one of the two gets all the money leaving the other without clothes on the street.”

Ichigo wasn’t sure he heard correctly. “Excuse me?”

“I’ve been watching television. It gets more boring when no one is around.”

“More or less. Don’t learn from television.”

“Why not? You should watch it more. You can’t get a divorce if you aren’t married, so we’re not in that phase.”

Grimmjow was so obvious in his statement, that Ichigo didn’t even try to explain the irony of his reply. Instead, he concentrated on Haruki. He fell in a sudden slumber as the last drop of milk was sucked out of the bottle. His eyelids were getting heavier and he opened his mouth wide in a long yawn before turning the head against Grimmjow’s chest and falling asleep.

“He looked so lively one minute ago.” Ichigo commented.

Grimmjow didn’t say anything and went upstairs, putting Haruki on the bed next to Jumoke. He didn’t need to turn around to know Ichigo was behind him. He walked outside the bedroom without a single glance towards him, but Ichigo was still trailing him downstairs.

“You know…” He started, but Grimmjow didn’t want to turn back. “…sleeping together made me feel like we are…” Ichigo sighed. “At least your shitty attitude reminds me we’re not.”

“Are you an idiot?”

Grimmjow turned to look at him. He looked tired, but his eyes were dangerous. “You and your family acted like _we_ were a family and eventually I fell into it. It sucks, because I’m tugged from both sides.  Thi–“

_ Bump _ .

A sharp pain spread till his temples. Ichigo had smacked him with his forehead.

“You’re dragging it, idiot.”

Grimmjow glared at him and Ichigo somehow felt relieved under the dangerous light flickering inside his clear blue eyes.

“You–“

“I tried to talk, but it seems like this is the only way I can deal with yo–“

Ichigo’s words were cut off by a headbutt that almost broke his nose.

“Goddammit Grimmjow! I was trying to have a serious moment!”

“Guess who started it?!”

“It takes you too long to say you’re scared!”

“I am _what_?”

“Scared! You’re scared and don’t want to admit it!”

“Scared of what?!”

“Scared of what will come next, because a family isn’t something you can deal with your violent attitude!”

“Said the one who–“ Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo by his sweater. “–had just hit me!” He was about to give him another headbutt, but Ichigo blocked him at the last moment and they ended up grabbing each other hands, their fingers intertwined in an angered attempt of breaking each other’s bones.

Their strengths were equal, their arms trembled and jolted when that balance flickered a little.

“If it helps getting rid of your tension, you can fight me instead of going back to Hueco Mundo whenever your sword tingles.”

Ichigo grinned, his lips tensed in the effort.

“You turned into an unworthy opponent, Kurosaki. What a cheap offer.”

Grimmjow made a large grimace, showing his fangs almost like a predator warning his challenger he was getting into troubles.

“You don’t know, until you try.”

Ichigo tried to push him, but Grimmjow was like a solid wall. He thought he wasn’t training into his gigai, but he was wrong.

“Hah, you aren’t wrong. Then let’s fucking do it!”

“Not a fight here!”

“The family, idiot!”

That was unexpected. Ichigo was taken aback and his defenses wobbled for a single instant. But that was enough for Grimmjow to impose himself and he slammed Ichigo against the closest wall, pinning both arms against the surface. A glimpse of annoyance disrupted Ichigo’s puzzled face.

“You said we were already doing it.” He said as Grimmjow tightened his grip.

“Yes.”

“And we’re gonna do it now, even if we basically are already doing it.”

“Say that again and I’m gonna kick your dick.”

Ichigo took few seconds to clear up his mind.

“Well then.”

“Well.” Grimmjow snorted. “This thing won’t last.”

“It has lasted until now.”

Both raised their heads when they heard a familiar voice blabbering unintelligible sounds, holding a small but convinced conference on his own. Then, they looked at each other and uttered the same words in the exact same moment.

“You woke Haruki up!”

Jumoke had specific behavior patterns whenever he was about to do something. When he wanted to ask something to Isshin, he tugged his trousers, looked up and spoke in a polite manner. He approached Ichigo silently, usually taking his hand and asking to be hold into his arms. As for Grimmjow, Jumoke was more direct.

“Mama. We need to talk, please.”

Jumoke walked straight in front of Grimmjow as he stepped into the entrance. Grimmjow tried to grasp a sign of what was wrong with his son, but he couldn’t catch much from his serious look.

“What happened? Haruki tugged your hair again?”

“Yes. But that’s not important.”

Grimmjow let Jumoke grab his hand and guide him to the sofa, making him sit down. He waited in silence as his son took a deep breath.

“Mama… you don’t like papa, right?”

“You’re still thinking about the other day, huh?”

Jumoke did a small nod.

“I asked grandpapa and he talked to me and said to ask to you.” He looked sad all of a sudden. “I like everyone here, but if you don’t like it, let’s go back home.”

Grimmjow had few regrets since when he was reborn as a Hollow and the regret of making his son sad because he couldn’t resist being dragged into the argument with Ichigo deposed the regret of not kicking enough Ichigo’s ass when he had the chance.

“Hey, come here, cotton candy.”

Jumoke climbed on his legs and hid his face against the broad chest. He liked when his mother caressed his head.

“Those harsh words, hitting each other and such… that’s the only way I can communicate with your father. It’s always been like that. But we talk. Having a connection is better than not considering each other.”

“Considering…?”

“Acting as if we were invisible. Not talking, not hitting each other.”

Jumoke raised his head. “That’s bad.”

“It is.”

“I don’t like if mama or papa or grandpapa or Kon don’t talk to me.”

Grimmjow ruffled his bangs. “Worries went away?”

“A little… mama, then you like papa?”

Grimmjow realized his greatest weakness became being unable to lie to Jumoke. Especially when he looked at him with his naïve eyes filled with hope. He sighed, embracing him back into a tight hug.

“I’ll tell you a secret. Just between me and you.”

“Okay.”

“Most of the times I want to kick Ichigo, smack his head, blow his smirk away with a cero and smack his head again. But…” Jumoke tended his ear, the wait tingling his stomach. “…I like him.”

“Really really?”

“Really. But don’t tell him.” Grimmjow assumed a threatening tone. “Or else he’ll have that unbearable smile and we’ll end up arguing again.”

“I won’t.” Jumoke hugged him back. “Mama, we are a family, right?”

Grimmjow massaged his forehead and tilted his head against the backseat. “I guess we are…”

That evening, Ichigo put Jumoke to bed, but just before he left, the boy held onto his hand.

“Papa.”

“Do you want another story?”

Jumoke shook his head. “You screamed again with mama tonight.”

He was referring to the short aggressive debate that involved Ichigo and Grimmjow right after dinner on who had to do the dishes and put the children to bed. It ended up in a pointless argument finished by Isshin, who fixed a chart against the fridge, adding his name to the turn-rotation.

“Mama said he screams at you because we are a family.”

Ichigo was puzzled and amazed at the same time.

“He really said that?”

“More or less… I don’t remember well. But he said that he likes screaming with you and not be silent with you.”

Ichigo didn’t know how much of that was distorted by Jumoke’s young age and his innocence, but he wanted to believe that it was something Grimmjow could feel. Their relationship had never been a quiet one, they’ve hardly passed some time without tingling one another – verbally or physically.

“Thanks for telling me. Good night, Jumoke.”

“Good night, papa. Ah! Could you please ask Kon if he wants to be here? He was reading in your room.”

“Okay, I’ll ask.”

Ichigo turned off the light and closed the door. Before heading to his room, he went to the kitchen, where Grimmjow started too late doing the dishes because he had to watch a tv show with his father, and was still busy scratching the leftovers away.

“Where’s Haruki?”

“Your father decided to have a walk with him. I suspect he’ll bring him to the mad hat.”

“Are you against it?”

“Nah. Haruki knows how to behave with strangers.”

“…he’s not a stranger…”

And Haruki was a month old, so Ichigo wondered what his capability of dealing with strangers was. He didn’t say anything, but hugged him from behind and left a soft kiss on his cheek. Then he broke the embrace and walked away without seeing Grimmjow’s surprised look, yet Ichigo heard how the rustling of the dishes stopped all of a sudden.

“I’m going to get Kon to Jumoke.”

Grimmjow tasted his cheek with the back of his right hand.

“Kurosaki, what an idiot…”

But probably the most idiot was him, who felt his face burning. The sweet feeling of that contact didn’t want to leave.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It looks like everything is solved quick. But both characters aren't the types who drag things for a long time. Moreover, as I said before, the story isn't linear and doesn't cover everything, but only the turning points. The rest is imagination.


	7. Four years again and more

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jumoke and a new little big challenge. But the biggest challenge is Grimmjow who still doesn't want to realize he knows where he wants to stay (plus a little timeskip).

That morning was special.

Isshin postponed the opening of the clinic and Yuzu managed to take some days off from college just to be present that specific day.

Jumoke felt like everyone was staring at him. Even the furniture. And that upset him to the point he had something heavy blocking the entrance of his stomach; he ate only some rice and a tiny nibble of fish and refused water, because his guts felt sick at the idea of the liquid washing inside him.

Yuzu adjusted the last button of the azure uniform and took a step back to admire her job. The color of the uniform matched Jumoke’s hair and the yellow cap made them look even brighter.

“You’re so cute!”

She squeezed him into a hug.

“Thank you.”

His voice didn’t sound enthusiastic neither reluctant. It didn’t sound like anything. Jumoke didn’t know what was waiting for him behind the door, he just knew he wanted to hold onto his mother and never let him go. He was scared of that unknown place they were going to bring him to.

It was called _kindergarten_. There were a lot of children of his age, some adults and lots of things to learn and to play with.  Isshin talked about it as if it was something wonderful. For Jumoke that was a trauma. Because he wouldn’t have seen his mother for the entire day and because his father left a week prior and never went back. There was a thing called _university_ and he ended up another thing that was working in the clinic.

_ “I’ll come back every two weeks.” _ Ichigo said while Jumoke’s efforts of restraining his tears were useless. But how long were two weeks? How many times back and forth from Las Noches to the villages were two weeks?

Isshin helped Jumoke putting the orange school bag on his shoulders. He had already his camera out and ready to take photographs. The first shoot was Jumoke’s confused face as he turned towards the lens. He had both hands clenched on the pads of the tiny rucksack.

“I guess it’s time we go. Grimmjow, you ready?”

From upstairs, Grimmjow replied harshly. “Yes. Haruki, I swear!”

He descended the stairs holding Haruki under the right arm. The child was swinging legs and arms, blabbering a chant nobody understood.

“You’re holding him like a sack.” Yuzu remarked. The first times she was horrified, then she came to realize that Haruki was stronger than she thought, and he didn’t suffer from Grimmjow’s unusual ways of holding him. But looking at Haruki hung into his clothes with Grimmjow’s grip on his sweater as the only hook still startled her.

“This damn Pumpkin spilled all the soap and had to change him again.”

Haruki raised his head and smiled.

“Do not smile at me. You’re not too young to be grounded.”

Grimmjow almost threw him into the stroller. Haruki stayed calm until his eyes spotted Jumoke; he jerked forward, both arms tended to his brother, and the mouth opened in a desperate attempt of having his attention.

“Oke!”

Haruki talked a lot. He talked too much and mostly during nighttime. Among all the words he spoke in his own language, the only one everyone managed to relate to something real, was Jumoke’s mispronounced name. That settled down the battle between Ichigo and Grimmjow on whose name would have been pronounced first by Haruki.

Jumoke run at his side, a hand on the stroller so that his brother could clamp his tiny fingers around his index. At the familiar contact, Haruki calmed down and adjusted himself in the comfortable seat, sucking on the knuckles of the free hand.

Another click. Isshin had taken a second photograph. He put the camera down and kneeled in front of Jumoke.

“Are you nervous?”

A small nod. Yet Isshin grasped it and his smile became less entertained and more comforting.

“Don’t worry. Whatever happens, we’re here.”

Another nod and Jumoke hugged his grandfather. Yuzu chuckled.

“It’ll be fine, Jumo! Kindergarten is a nice place; do you trust me?”

Nod.

Grimmjow pressed the hat on Jumoke’s head.

“Let’s go, Cotton Candy.”

Jumoke went out of the house next to Grimmjow. He glanced back a last time. Isshin was smiling, Yuzu waving his hand. He wanted to go back, but stayed silent. And walked. From time to time, Haruki stuck out his head, checking if his brother was still there, and when the view of Jumoke reassured him, he leaned back on the strolled with a satisfied sigh.

The path was short and it took a little time. When Jumoke saw the huge entrance to the yard with the name carved in colors on a woodened-alike label, he realized he wanted to stay a bit more with his mother, he wanted to take the long road and look a bit more around Karakura. That place was colorful, there were pink trees, a huge yellow building and a little park with many games. Yet, he didn’t want to go.

There were other children, other adults holding their hands. Jumoke grabbed Grimmjow’s leg and didn’t let go of it.

“We can’t enter like this.” Grimmjow looked down. “Don’t worry. Just give it a try, since that idiot wants to.” _That idiot_ was  Ichigo; Jumoke had learnt it through time and Isshin told him it was an endearment only his mother could use. “But if you don’t like it here, I’ll come and get you.”

“You’ll come?”

“I’ll come.”

Jumoke trusted his mother. But he didn’t trust that place and he didn’t trust the woman walking towards them. She was wearing an apron with a dandelion sewed on it. Jumoke looked down at the flower patched on the left side of his uniform, where there was his name written in katakana. They matched.

The woman wasn’t really tall; the tip of the little fountain of brown hair on her head barely arrived at his mother’s shoulder. She had big round glasses, looked gentle and smiled like Yuzu. Jumoke released Grimmjow’s trousers.

“Hello.” She pointed at her own flower. “I guess you are in my class, Jumoke.”

“He-hello… you read my name.”

“Yes. It’s a nice name.”

“Thank you.”

The woman looked at Haruki. Haruki contracted his eyebrows as their sights crossed and clenched his mouth into an annoyed pout.

“Oh? What’s wrong here?”

Grimmjow cut it short. “He doesn’t like strangers.” He didn’t particularly like or dislike the woman, but if he had to do it, he wanted to do it fast. At least, she didn’t seem particularly bothered by his permanent threatening look like half of Karakura did. Or she was good at faking she didn’t mind it.

“You must be the other parent. Mister Kurosaki talked about you.”

“Oh, yeah?”

The woman chuckled. “I’ll wait for you this afternoon at five. In case of troubles, I’ll call immediately.”

Jumoke clamped again on his leg. Grimmjow poked him on the back with the knee. Jumoke looked at the hand the woman was tending to him, but he still wasn’t sure he wanted to try that new experience.

“You’ll come, mama?”

Grimmjow pushed down the cap, covering his eyes. Jumoke pulled it back and saw the almost imperceptible curve of his lips.

“Yes. Now go.”

The tiny smile and the reassuring look fueled his heart. Jumoke took the hand of his teacher, following her inside the yard of the kindergarten.

As he got further, Grimmjow heard a disappointed screech. High-pitched and angered. Haruki was trying to free himself from the stroller, stretching his arms forward, in a useless attempt of reaching his brother.

“Oke!” He said once, but Jumoke didn’t turn. “Oke!” He repeated putting so much strength that it seemed like his vocal cords could have ripped from the effort.

Grimmjow held Haruki when he was already crying in frustration. The boy chomped down on his neck and Grimmjow felt his teeth sinking down into the flesh.

“And we need to take care of this shitty habit.”

With his free hand he rustled inside the pocket of the jacket and took out a piece of paper. Yuzu had written down in a neat handwriting the list of the groceries and other things he had to buy. The previous day he muttered between his teeth and snorted, giving the impression he didn’t want to do anything. But he took the money, the list and decided he would have gone to the supermarket.

Grimmjow didn’t have anything better to do. What angered him, was that he wouldn’t have been anything better to do in Hueco Mundo either. His life was more filled with events when he was an Adjuchas and, even if he hated the thought, when he was under Aizen. The two years prior the Quincy incident were a frenetic escalation to acquiring more power. The four years after, his life stabilized into a normal routine. Until he went to the human world. And there another routine began.

Since when Ichigo left, Grimmjow realized how he had nothing to do, more than before. Especially because the one he could argue with without thinking much about the consequences went away. The last thing they argued about was enrolling Jumoke with the surname Kurosaki and not Jaegerjaques. Grimmjow understood the problems behind creating out of nowhere a new identity for him in short time, but that still pissed him off. And it was a nice topic to drag Ichigo into an argument before shifting their verbal fight into a sex fight.

And now he had not anyone to fight, nor a precise goal, aim, mission. Nothing. His whole body was waiting for something, he was frustrated but couldn’t do much to help his condition. It sucked.

Because of that, more than he wanted to, he ended up to Urahara’s shop. Sometimes he went to Hueco Mundo. Sometimes he didn’t. He didn’t know what to do.

“You should find something to do.”

“Just go die already.”

Urahara hid his face behind the fan, only the eye peeked from the edge. “You shouldn’t speak like this in front of the baby.”

Haruki was looking at the ceiling and munching on the pacifier without much enthusiasm. He closed his eyes, menaced to fall asleep, but opened them again looking without any strength left inside him. His head was leaning against Grimmjow’s chest and when he rolled his eyes around, he ended up looking at his own hands with scarce interest.

Grimmjow ignored Urahara.

“What I meant–“ The Shinigami went on. “–is that you should find a job.”

“…what?”

“A job would make you have an income and not being dependent on Kurosaki anymore. I guess you’re repaying him protecting Karakura from the Hollows who still try to slay people, but you’re also getting very much bored. And this makes me think you’re mostly doing it because you’re bored and not because you realized you are a kind spirit of this earth and want to protect us all.”

“I won’t find a job.”

“Because you can’t do anything.”

Urahara hid again behind the fan, as if it was enough to shield from Grimmjow’s threatening look.

“I have some jobs you could do, but I’m not sure they’re totally legal here.”

“I’m not doing a job.” Grimmjow repeated. “I won’t settle–“ He stopped. “…whatever.”

The only thing that was preventing something inside him to burst out was Haruki on the verge of sleep. It crawled down deep into his throat, it pissed him off and distressed him, because he didn’t know how to name that emotion.

“Actually–“

A loud ring cut off Urahara’s voice and awakened Haruki. Grimmjow took the mobile and growled without checking who was calling.

“I hope for you it is important!”

His frown switched from annoyance to worry. Urahara realized it was important.

Isshin called him. Something happened at the kindergarten and he had left Jumoke there barely two hours prior. That was something in terms of trouble-making. The man blabbered about a teacher saying that Jumoke did something terrible, but whatever option Grimmjow depicted into his mind wasn’t terrible enough to justify him going back at the kindergarten to go and fetch his child. But humans were stupid after all and the most terrible thing that appeared into his mind was his son crying and feeling miserable because of something.

“Jumoke punched a classmate.”

The chairman was a man who probably had some hair at a certain point in his life. He looked like a sour and inflexible pain in the ass, but he spoke with calm, exposing the matter remaining as neutral as he could.

“You will agree with me, mister Jaegerjaques…” He managed to pronounce his surname correctly, a first into that town, and that was a point for him. “…that this is not the right behavior for a child.”

Jumoke was sitting on a chair, his head down and the face he made when he realized he did something wrong. On the opposite side, there was the child he punched, a boy taller and broader than him with a black eye; he was into the firm arms of his mother and had no idea where to look, so he settled his eyes on Jumoke. Grimmjow didn’t like her looks since when he first gazed at her.

“Jumoke.” Jumoke jolted, hearing his mother’s voice.

“Yes?”

“Why did you punch…” _that shrimp_ “…him?”

“Because he told me to do it.”

“Nonsense!” The woman yelled before anyone could say anything. “This is a lie! That little thug hurt my boy!”

Grimmjow ignored her. “Be more precise.”

Jumoke was puzzled by the reaction of the woman, but he nodded and went on. “He was pushing another child and this child fell down. I helped him and said…” He stopped for a second. “… _you cannot bully who’s weaker than you, so stop, please_. Because in  Hueco–“ He suddenly recalled he couldn’t talk about hollows to normal people and stayed with his mouth opened searching for something else to say. “–because before everyone bullied me, and I was sad.” His voice was solemn. “And he laughed. And he said that he would have stopped only if I punched him. But papa said I shouldn’t pick fights with other children, because I’m strong and it’s no good. So I told him.” Those short sentences were pronounced like a lullaby, starting with a low tone and ending with a note slightly higher. “But he said _If you punch me, I’ll stop it!_ ”

Jumoke raised his hands and shrugged. “So I did it.” A worried expression taunted his innocent eyes. “Am I a bully now?” He looked truly concerned.

Grimmjow felt a sudden laugh rising through his vocal chords, but Haruki sleeping into the stroller restrained his instinct. Though a half chuckle escaped his lips.

The story was reported with such sincere intentions and without a single trace of malice, that both the headmaster and the woman stared at him without saying anything. The child, still holding onto his mother, whined.

“But I didn’t mean it…”

The matter was settled relatively well, despite its alarming beginning.

Both Jumoke and the child were grounded, alone in two opposite corners of their classroom with the prohibition of speaking to anyone, reflecting on what they did. Grimmjow opposed to that decision, contrary to the woman, who contributed to put shame on the behavior of his son, scolding him in front of everyone. Grimmjow was sure Jumoke just acted accordingly to what was better and didn’t need to be punished that much.

“The better was calling a teacher.” The headmaster cut him off. “Now, mister Jaegerjaques, we think children shouldn’t ever use violence, or they’ll grow up as deviated members of society. I guess Jumoke could convey his energies in some activity like a martial art. He’ll have time to reflect about using his strength in a better way.”

Grimmjow fought the instinct of punching that bald himself. But Jumoke didn’t seem that sad when he went back to the classroom, even with the perspective of the punishment. Maybe he was enjoying himself, despite the bad parenthesis, and punching the headmaster would have probably made him kicked out of the kindergarten. His forehead was wrinkled, his eyebrows so close that the deep frown shaded his eyes. Grimmjow was satisfied as he saw fear flowing into the headmaster’s features. All his proud and cocky attitude deflated and his whole body, from rigid, went flaccid like a balloon with a hole on it.

“Okay. He picked up the wrong fight. But if I ever come here again and see my son put into a miserable state as before especially over a stupid reason such as a childish fight…” He took a step forward, the headmaster retreated as he got too close with a swift movement. “…I’ll-retire-him-from-this-school.”

He spelled every single word, pausing enough to prolong that moment and let the headmaster sink into his own regrets. Then he took the stroller and walked out from the office.

In the very moment he stepped inside the entrance at home, his mobile rang again. And Haruki woke up again. This time he looked at the name on the screen, before blurting out all his irritation.

“Kurosaki, for fuck’s sake, you woke Haruki up. He still needs to rest during day!”

Ichigo ignored him. _“ Grimmjow, you threatened the headmaster of the kindergarten!”_

“What? No! I just threatened to retire Jumoke if he makes him miserable again. He should be grateful I didn’t kick his baldy ass!”

_ “Grimmjow! You can’t just do that! Jumoke punched a classmate!” _

“You only know a part of the story.” Grimmjow sounded proud. He closed the door and held Haruki. “Just stop blabbering for a second and listen to me. He did something _you_ would have done. He  kinda protected a classmate.” A sudden thought broke that line of the conversation. “Ah, by the way, Haruki tried the peach juice and he likes it. He likes sour things, incredible.”

_ “Well, peach juice isn’t that sour and It’s kinda sweet. It’s good he’s widening his tastes, he can’t eat every day the same things–No wait! Don’t chance topic!” _

“You said you wanted to be informed on everything.” Grimmjow snorted. “And just shut up and listen to the whole story, dumbass!”

From the door connecting to the clinic, Yuzu was listening to Grimmjow talking at the phone while he walked around trying to settle down Haruki, who was grabbing his hair, playing at pulling them down.

“Yuzu, my sweet star, what’s happening?”

Isshin popped out from the white tent around one bed.

“Wife and husband talk, dad.”

Two weeks turned out to be a long time. And a month became unbearable.

Despite his promises, because of his tight schedule of lessons and tours on the field, Ichigo couldn’t go back home until he fulfilled all the thing he had left behind during the previous months. One month and almost two weeks. It became hard listening to Jumoke’s voice filled with hope through the telephone only to let him down with a single answer.

“I can’t this week. I’m sorry.”

But Jumoke’s hope never went down and all the trust he put into him almost hurt Ichigo physically.

When he finally managed to find a blank spot, some days he could spend at home without having huge losses in classes, he came back to Karakura. He prepared a backpack and took the train without saying anything to anyone. It would have been a surprise – a good one, he hoped.

He changed once the train and when he arrived in Karakura, he rushed home. The handful of seconds between the ring of the doorbell and the click of the opening door lasted too long and Ichigo realized he was pleased even if it was his father who went and opened the door.

Isshin was taken aback. He didn’t expect to find his son and the reaction of happiness was delayed enough for Ichigo to avoid the jump aiming at him.

“Ichigo! Give a hug to your father!”

“No way!”

Ichigo shifted aside, letting his father stumbling forward. Isshin was almost losing his balance and it would have been easier falling down; yet, he straightened his back with a painful-looking jerk of his entire body. Something cracked and Ichigo wondered if it was his spine.

“You didn’t say a word yesterday!” Isshin had tears inside his eyes, but he acted as if nothing happened. “I would have thrown a huge party!”

“I wanted to make a surprise.” And avoid huge parties.

Ichigo entered the house. Nothing changed. One month wasn’t much, he was away from home for much longer before Grimmjow arrived. And spotting some drawings he didn’t recognize on the table, near a box of pastels, reassured him.

“You can still make one. Why don’t you go fetch Jumoke at the kindergarten? I was going out in any moment, but probably he’ll be happier with you.”

“And Haruki? Is he sleeping?”

“Who knows. Grimmjow brings him along, since I can’t take care of him because of the clinic.”

“Along where?”

Isshin didn’t reply. His attention was caught by a distant sound of a familiar siren getting closer and closer. As he spotted the lights of the ambulance arriving from the end of the street, he sighed.

“I received a call about a huge incident into an office just before you arrived. I need to go and good luck you decided to arrive today. You know where the kindergarten is, right?”

“But Grimmjow–“ Yet, Isshin was already walking away. “Yes… I do.”

His father frowned, probably muttering something bad against the town hospital, and went back to the clinic. The huge back heading to help injured people always warmed up Ichigo’s heart. And probably was the main reason he wanted to follow his father’s footsteps, despite he’d never told him once.

Ichigo let the rucksack into his old room -Kon wasn’t there- and took the spare keys before leaving. The house was very silent.

He waited almost half an hour in front of the kindergarten. The only thing that saved him, was that at the time of the enrollment, he introduced himself as Jumoke’s father, or else the glances of the teacher near the entrance, there to check the flow of children, would have been more suspicious. However, for the rest of the parents he was a new face, with strange bright orange hair. So he suddenly became the topic of the mutters of the other mothers and fathers.

The school bell rang. The classes went out in order, each with their flower sewn on the uniform and bright yellow caps covering the tiny heads. But Ichigo was fast and he spotted Jumoke as he reached the entrance. He was holding the hand of another boy with huge glasses and black hair. The boy run towards his mother, leaving Jumoke near the teacher. He held onto her apron with a hand.

His big brown eyes looked around. Ichigo walked forward and the expectation turned into a gentle crawl tickling his stomach. Jumoke turned his head and their gazes met.

Ichigo smiled. Jumoke’s eyes widened and it seemed like countless tiny sparkles glimmered inside them.

“Papa!”

He yelled. In a single dash he almost covered the distance between them and leaped up towards Ichigo, who caught him into a hug. Jumoke clenched his arms and legs around Ichigo’s waist and shoulders. His face was hidden against his neck and Ichigo felt him giggling.

“Hey! You became taller. And heavier.”

“You said you were coming next week!”

“I wanted to make a surprise.”

Ichigo gave him a little tug, but Jumoke pressed further his face against him.

“So, do you want to tell me what you did today?”

That was enough to make the boy raise his head, but he didn’t give any sign he wanted to descend. Ichigo adjusted his arms, starting to feel sore to the left one.

And Jumoke started his explanation of what he had been done since that morning, from making Haruki eat to dress himself on his own – “I can put on the uniform on my own! I can button all the buttons without missing a single one!” He looked very proud of that achievement. Then the meeting with his new friends, the nice teacher with of the sunflower who liked her drawings and said his imaginary friends were beautiful – “When I told them, Sole, Euri and Morea were happy!”. He was learning more kanji and more things and he only wanted to know more and more.

It was when they were almost home that the endless flow of words stopped and the stars inside his eyes turned off.

“Are we going to fetch mama?”

“Do you know where he is?”

“At work.” Jumoke replied as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

Ichigo hesitated. “Chasing hollows?”

Jumoke shook his head. “No, the other work.”

“What work?”

“The work he does every day.”

Ichigo didn’t understand.

“Do you know where mama works?” Jumoke nodded and Ichigo put him down. “Lead me?”

“Yes!”

Hand in hand, Ichigo let Jumoke guide him through the streets. They walked around the city center, moving towards the periphery. When they started climbing to the hills opposed to the graveyard, Ichigo wondered where they were going. His question found an answer when he saw a small dull building isolated from everything. From there, the whole town showed in front of them. Ichigo took few moments to look at the skyline: Karakura was silent, embraced by the tender light of the sun approaching the horizon. The beauty of the panorama was fighting against the omen of whatever Grimmjow was doing in such an isolated place. Jumoke hugged his waist and looked up at him.

“Papa?”

Ichigo smiled at him.

“Ichigo?”

A hoarse voice snapped behind them. When he turned, Ichigo had barely the time to glance at Grimmjow’s perplexed face. Then a high-pitched yell made him jolt. Haruki pushed himself forward and would have fell down if it wasn’t for Grimmjow, who held him back against his chest. Haruki turned visibly older in the past weeks, his hair thicker and his limbs longer.

Ichigo sometimes was afraid. Even if he called at least every two days, he thought that maybe Haruki was too young and he would have forgotten some parts of him. But all his fears were swept away as the boy was writhing into Grimmjow’s arms to reach him.

Ichigo took Haruki from Grimmjow. He became heavier, but didn’t lose the habit of munching down on necks. He felt the teeth touching the skin without biting. All the sudden tension that Ichigo felt vanished as Haruki emitted a satisfied sigh.

“Kurosaki, why are you here?”

“Ichigo!”

That was Kon’s voice. Ichigo spotted his head popping out from the bag hanging on the stroller. “You’re finally back!”

“Kon. What are you doing there?”

“He kidnaps me every day! I don’t want to come, but he menaces me!”

Grimmjow snorted. “Shut up. You’re the babysitter.”

“I ain’t no–“ Grimmjow didn’t glare at Kon, nor he put on a frown, but he just looked at him and that was enough to shut his words. “I… am the babysitter.”

Ichigo smiled. “I managed to come back earlier and wanted to make a surprise.”

Something in Grimmjow changed too. Ichigo guessed it was the hair, a bit longer on the neck, the locks almost touched his shoulders. But when the silence became too long, he stopped trying to realize if it was only the hair that gave Grimmjow a different vibe and said the first thing that popped into his mind.

“So, you’re working. You’ve never said anything.”

“Surprise, I guess.”

“And what are you doing?”

“Dogs.”

“What?”

Grimmjow took Jumoke’s hand and took the only road connecting that area with the town. Ichigo walked next to them.

“They bring in here abused animals. Mostly dogs. Some years ago, they kept killing them, ‘cause they were too rabid. But those suckers didn’t even try. They just need to face someone who can handle them during their rants, fighting them back.”

“The people?”

“No, the dogs.”

It sounded like Grimmjow engaged fights with dogs and enjoyed them. Ichigo could figure him out without any problem, but he hoped that wasn’t what he was doing.

“Uhm… how did you find–“

“Urahara. These two guys needed someone who wasn’t scared at dogs showing their fangs.”

Ichigo thought of Grimmjow inside a cage, bared chest and bandages around his hands, ready to face a dog. That image was too wrong on too many levels and he shook his head to wipe it away.

“Mama hugs dogs.” Jumoke explained. “They’re angry and bark. And mama lets them be angry and attack and hugs them until they’re fine.”

“I’ve already explained I don’t hug them!”

That image was more soothing and Ichigo went along with that.

Kon interrupted them. “Well, he isn’t wrong. You basically hug them.”

Grimmjow didn’t seem affected by him. “Tonight you’ll put Haruki to sleep.”

“What??? He munches on me and drools all over my skin!!”

“You don’t have skin, you have cloth.”

“How rude of you treating me like that! Ichigo say something!”

Ichigo looked at Kon, then at Grimmjow. “So, now you have a work.”

Kon was shocked. “You ignored me!”

“I was getting bored.” Grimmjow tried to break what Ichigo was implying, yet he didn’t sound so convinced. “And I was fed off asking for money to your father whenever Jumoke wanted something. I need an income to stay here.” His eyes sharpened as his look pierced right through Ichigo. “But you’re always a pain, Kurosaki!”

“Why?!”

“You arrive here without saying anything, do you think food appears magically into the fridge?”

“Hey, I’m just one! If there’s food for four, there’s food for five!”

“You never change. You always want to have the last word!”

Jumoke interrupted them. “But mama, you said today we were going to the supermarket anyway.”

Grimmjow growled among his teeth.

“…you just wanted to argue, didn’t you Grimmjow?”

“As if!”

All of a sudden , Ichigo heard Haruki’s voice chanting a lullaby, a medley that seemed like the one he used to hear from kiosks near his school.

“Uh?”

“He does that when he’s happy.” Grimmjow explained. “We’ve been stuck with that melody for a while. And once he said _mama_.” He grinned.

“And he also says _papa_ , when we close the phone.” Jumoke added and Grimmjow’s chuckle crumbled down.

Ichigo caressed the small orange head. Haruki had stopped munching on his neck and was blabbering many syllables that had no sense, but formed a nice melody.

“Seems like I’ve lost many things in such a small period, huh?”

Before Ichigo could feel any sorrow, Grimmjow smacked behind his head so strong that the clap echoed around them.

“HEY! You–”

“Jumoke, cover your ears.”

Jumoke obeyed. Grimmjow looked at Ichigo with a neutral face.

“Idiot.”

“That’s all you have to say?!”

“Yes. You lost basically everything of Jumoke. So what? Having a bullet train-face will help you retrieving the time you’ve lost? Just enjoy what you can now.”

“…that’s deep.”

“That’s normal. Humans tend to forget that because they’re used to boring lives with a little danger in it. As an adjuchas when I wanted to do something, I did it, because I could regress forever into a Gillian or die, since I was constantly targeted. But this life…” He wrinkled his nose. “…if you’re not careful, it sucks you till your bones and doesn’t let you live, because you think you have another day.”

It was normal. Ichigo realized that what Grimmjow had just said was true and he said it without faltering, without any hesitation. Maybe nothing changed in Grimmjow. Probably he changed before, when he arrived in the human world and then he went back to his usual old self. Ichigo wasn’t sure.

“By the way–“ Grimmjow added. “–everybody says _bullet train-face_ to someone who looks like shit, sadness and stuff. But I don’t get why.”

“Have you ever seen a bullet train?”

“Nu-uh.”

“Their first wagon is long-shaped and it’s associated with a long face.”

“…that’s dumb.”

“You had this doubt and never asked?”

Grimmjow felt a poke on his hip and looked down at Jumoke who was trying to get his attention touching him with his forehead.

“Mama, may I uncover my ears now?”

Ichigo hadn’t realized how much he missed home until he came back. He missed his bed, he missed Kon who erupted endless and useless talks from his mouth and laughed at every manga he took from the shelf, he even missed his father, who tried to take every chance to hug him since when he stepped into the house, and Ichigo let him before dinner. Of course, he missed his sisters, but he could see them in Tokyo.

And he missed Jumoke and Haruki. He sat between them during dinner and Jumoke was allowed to stay up a bit more, so he could talk to Ichigo. He talked about school, his friends in Hueco Mundo, miss Yoruichi who was teaching him many nice things -and Ichigo didn’t know if he had to be scared or not- and Isshin who always brought him around, explaining him everything he knew about Seireitei and Human World. Haruki was listening to his brother voice, leaning stomach down on Ichigo’s stomach, with his legs and arms crouched, resembling a loaf of bread with a yellow pajama.

Haruki didn’t sleep immediately. Ichigo sat down next to Jumoke into the bed, his old bed in his old room. Kon was leaning into Jumoke’s arms, Haruki was sitting on Ichigo’s legs, looking at the pictures of the book. Jumoke fell asleep in the first half of the fairy tale, when the five princes had just asked for princess Kaguya’s hand. Ichigo stopped reading, but went on at Haruki’s complaints. Ichigo didn’t know how much Haruki understood about the story, but the boy held on, swinging his head to see the pictures, until the quest of the third prince, then he leaned his head against the book and stayed still and asleep.

“He isn’t even one year old, but he grew up so much.”

Ichigo commented sitting down on the couch next to Grimmjow. Since Grimmjow was concentrated on the television and didn’t say anything, he continued.

“He’s already learnt how to crawl… sometimes I forget he’s more hollow than human.”

“It was fun seeing you trying to keep your pace while he slithered under the table.” Grimmjow grinned, kept his eyes on the screen and leaned his head on Ichigo’s shoulder. “For once it wasn’t me. It’s easier crawling in my Resurrected form.”

Everything happened fast. Everything seemed normal.

“…what’s this?”

“A kitchen show. There’s one who does amazing sweets and she uses gelatin everywhere, but those things look tasty. Once I tried to make it.”

Ichigo didn’t meant that, but he went on with it. “Really? Was it good?”

“Jumoke said yes, but Haruki was more honest and spat it out. I think your father had a stomach ache that night.”

“Haruki ate it too?”

“It was soft. Like… gelatin.” Grimmjow raised his head a bit. “Did you hear the part about your father?”

“I did.”

“Wow, you really do not care about him. I’ve always thought he just fancies the drama.”

“He fancies the drama.”

Ichigo felt cold as Grimmjow wasn’t leaning on him anymore. Their fingers intertwined, the touch was a bit rough but warm. He lowered his eyes and when raised them again, Grimmjow kissed him. He fell on the couch, over Grimmjow.

“Here?” He asked on his lips.

“Stupid Ichigo. In the bedroom there’s Haruki.”

“But.” Grimmjow pecked on his lips. “What if.” Another peck. Ichigo lost the track of his thoughts.

Grimmjow’s arms wrapped around his waist.

“You can go, if you want.”

Ichigo thought that was unfair. Because he couldn’t leave. He didn’t want to. He passed his fingers through Grimmjow’s hair, touched his right cheek, where there should have been the mask, and kissed him there.

“Hey, Grimmjow…”

“I missed you.”

Ichigo jolted. He was more used to handle with the Grimmjow who insulted him and always looked for a fight. That side of Grimmjow always won over him, no matter how hard Ichigo tried to resist.

“Really?”

“Don’t make me repeat it, because I won’t.”

Grimmjow barked. Ichigo chuckled.

Grimmjow woke up in the middle of the night. Ichigo was sleeping next to him, his rest unaffected by the fears that forced Grimmjow to wide open his eyes.

He stood up barefoot, stormed out of the room and dashed down the corridor. The first door was white, with a small pink label on the center and Haruki’s name written on it. The room was empty, the bed was unmade. He dashed to the next one, the same as the other, but with a green label. Grimmjow opened the door and saw Jumoke asleep into his bed with Haruki curled against his chest.

The tension which was holding Grimmjow disappeared. He felt his legs numb, his head spinning. Most of all, he felt like an idiot.

He stumbled backwards and hit against something soft. An arm around his waist, a tender bump against his forehead. Ichigo hugged him and Grimmjow didn’t retreat.

“Drink something?”

Grimmjow sighed. “Yes.”

His body was tired, but his mind wasn’t. Grimmjow was sure that if he were to go back into the bed, he would have rolled over and stared at the ceiling while more and more thought would have stuffed his brain until his head hurt and he couldn’t stay still anymore. Last time, he run around Karakura in the middle of the night until he exhausted his physical body.

Grimmjow sat down on the chair around the marble isle of the kitchen. They moved when Ichigo finished his studies; both managed to save enough money -with a little help Isshin almost forced upon them- to buy a house for themselves. It was on the other side of the street, right in front of the clinic, but it had the privacy they lacked in the Kurosaki household. Four years had passed and each day that plain house acquired shades of all their personalities, turning into their personal safe nest.

“Chocolate?”

Grimmjow smelt the sweet essence as Ichigo opened the package of the powder cocoa.

“Yup.”

“Looks like all the talk about my fat ass is just a talk.”

“It’s not just a talk.”

“You should visit yourself. I guess all that chocolate is draining your muscles.”

“My muscles are fine. Last time we fought, I won.”

“I won.”

“You fell down first.”

“But I brought you home.”

“Guess who can create a garganta and who can’t?”

“I was holding you, dumbass.”

Ichigo poured the chocolate into the milk as it got warm.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“My ass?”

“Tonight.”

Grimmjow had a “No.” ready on the tip of his tongue. Then Ichigo turned and pinned him on the spot with a serious look that gave no room for silly arguments or bothered silences.

“I just thought the kids were gone. That’s all.”

Ichigo was mixing the chocolate. “You are aware that Aizen can’t do any harm.”

“Anyone can do some harm if they try enough.”

“We can’t lock the children here.”

“I don’t want to lock them anywhere.”

Grimmjow was looking outside the window. Ichigo didn’t reply until the chocolate was ready.

“We’re not weak.” He stated while pouring the drink inside two mugs. “The children are not weak.” He took the blue one and put it in front of Grimmjow. “But I’m afraid too.” He sat next to him. “I suppose it’s normal being afraid of losing them. But you’ve been like this since when in Seireitei there was the accident with Aizen.”

Two arrancar. They were so close at bursting into the prison and Urahara said both killed themselves after claiming their loyalty to Aizen and threaten that more like them would have arrived. Kenpachi witnessed it and it had been sheer luck that he was around to stop them.

Grimmjow glanced at Ichigo. He tried many times, but he had never managed to drink hot chocolate just poured from the small pot. Probably Ichigo had lost his physical perceptions into the mouth.

“More will arrive.”

“Shinigami will stop them.”

“Shinigami haven’t done a right thing without you. And you can’t always be there.”

“Grimmjow, you don’t really trust them.”

“No.” Grimmjow lowered his head. “I’m getting weaker.”

“Actually not.” Ichigo flinched his forehead, getting back a frown. “You can defeat me.” He smiled.

“But you’re weak.”

“You…”

Ichigo put an arm around his shoulders and pecked on his lips.

“Who’s weak?”

“You.” Grimmjow kissed him back. “Because I can beat you.”

“Let’s go to bed after the chocolate, mh?”

Grimmjow finished the warm drink after Ichigo. When he put the head on the pillow and curled against Ichigo’s chest, he fell asleep before any bad thoughts could taunt him.

He opened the eyes again feeling a weight over his stomach. The ceiling was clearer, morning was approaching from outside the window, slithering through the tents. Grimmjow looked down at Jumoke, who was sleeping on his torso with his legs leaned on Ichigo’s thigs. Haruki was sleeping curled against Ichigo’s stomach, but a foot was stomped on Jumoke’s hip.

Grimmjow looked at their young faces, so relaxed, without any worry. But Haruki was holding tight on Ichigo’s pajama and Jumoke was holding onto Grimmjow’s arm. Grimmjow tended his free arm to caress the heads of his children. His body was sore, but he smiled. Into his sleep, Ichigo extended his arm and his fingers brushed against Grimmjow’s head. Grimmjow touched Ichigo’s forehead and couldn’t stop himself from staring at his relaxed face.

“…thank you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end.  
> I had many other ideas I wanted to put in here, but had to cut down, since it's not a linear story, but a collection of main events from a regular storyline.  
> I didn't know what job Grimmjow could do, I talked with a friend and she said "How about having him work to help abused dogs recovering?". The other option was him working into a pet shop, but a physical thing was more like Grimmjow.  
> I'm not sure what I'll write next, but I hope I'll have time to write a short collection of all those moments I couldn't put in this story (mostly because I realized I do love writing about Jumoke and Haruki, it's a first for me about original characters).
> 
> Thanks to whoever read this until the end :)

**Author's Note:**

> The final part is my favorite among those I've written up to now (and I'm currently writing chapter 6).


End file.
